


Der Sanfte Riese

by go_Jean_or_go_home



Category: Attack on Titan, Shingeki no Kyojin
Genre: Attack on titan x reader - Freeform, Gen, I didn't even sneak my otps into the background, I mean none, OCs - Freeform, Reader Insert, Titan reader, aot x reader, male reader - Freeform, male titan reader, no ships, shingeki no kyojin x reader, snk x reader - Freeform, titan male reader
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-03
Updated: 2017-06-27
Packaged: 2018-09-28 02:58:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10067411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/go_Jean_or_go_home/pseuds/go_Jean_or_go_home
Summary: Male Titan!Reader X Various Snk/AotThe titan means "The Gentle Giant" in German.A chapter fic in which you are a male titan. You wake up North of where the last of humanity resides, and venture into territory where you are not wanted. Either you convince the humans that you aren't bad and survive, or take a slash to the nape of your neck.





	1. Welcome to The World

You don't remember being given a life, or anything before that, if there  _ was _ something before that. You were just suddenly,  _ living _ . You were  _ alive. _ But what were you? _ Who _ were you?

 

You couldn’t think much of anything at that time, as your brain was apparently less capable of much intelligent thought. All you could see was dark, nothing.  _ Black _ .

 

You were suddenly aware of a faint coolness surrounding you, and of something wet you were laying on. You heard lots of whistling around you, and felt little pecks of  _ something _ pelting you from the side. 

 

Your eyes opened for the first time, slowly trying to blink away the blurriness, and saw something above you. What was it? 

 

_ Blue. Sky. _

 

It was a blue sky.

 

The sky was accompanied by rolling, puffs of light grey.  _ Clouds _ . You felt something farther down your face move, and curve upwards. You were smiling for the very first time. 

 

You also saw millions of tiny…  _ white _ things flying in and out of your vision.  _ Snow _ .

 

You moved your…  _ hands _ … to the wet, cool surface beneath you, and pushed yourself to sit up with a grunt, leaving huge, melted hand-shaped puddles in your wake. Finally able to look around, you slowly took in what you saw, names coming to you with some difficulty, but getting slightly faster as you went along.

 

_ … white _ …  _ snow…  _ and lots of it. 

 

_ … green… dark green… trees… pine trees… _

 

_ … bumps… hills… mountains! _

 

You were in a small clearing with pines surrounding you; one lone tree stood planted a few paces away. You opened your mouth to breathe and felt a rush of cool air flow into you. It was nice.

 

You were aware that your surroundings were, what was it?  _ Cold _ , but you didn't feel much or any of it. Instead you felt…  _ hot _ ? No not hot,  _ warm.  _ You wondered why.

 

You looked down, and saw something that appeared to be connected to you. A  _ body _ .  _ Chest, stomach, legs, feet. _ You slowly wiggled your toes, curled and flexed your feet, and dug into the snow with your heels, giggling all the while. 

 

Now you noticed that every few seconds, the black from before would cover your vision then disappear again.  _ Eye lids _ . You tried to keep your eyes open as long as you could, because there was so much to see! But your eyes started to sting, then a clear thing moved across your eye and the stinging was gone, and you could see clearly the entire time. Your  _ third eyelid _ , or  _ nictitating membrane _ . 

 

You felt something moving on the side of your head, you reached a hand you to touch it since you couldn't see it. It had a lot of weirdly intricate structures, got longer and thinner at the tips, you could control it's movement, and sounds seemed to muffle if you covered it entirely. You had two of them on either side of your head.  _ Ears _ . 

 

You could control your body just fine, so you rose one entire leg, then dropped it back down onto the ground, making the snow shake and the ground tremble. You giggled more. 

 

Once again pushing your hands into the ground, you drew you knees closer to you and heaved yourself into a standing position, but you felt unbalanced. Your arms flailed around and you yelped and fell forward causing nearby rocks and pebbles to jump from the small shake of the land. 

 

After listening to the echo of your yelp bounce across the sides of the snow-capped mountains and then fade out, you looked to the nearby pine tree and crawled on your hands and knees over to it to use the tree to try standing again.

 

Leaning a great portion of your weight against the rather large trunk of the tree, you still felt unsturdy, but decided to take a risk anyway. Moving a shaky foot forward, you took a small step, easing some strain off of the poor tree. 

 

Feeling confident, you took another step, and another, and then after walking in a full circle around the tree, you took your hands off the large pine trunk.

 

You smiled again, these were your first steps!

 

❄❈❄❆❄❊❄❋❄❉❄❅❄

 

That was a long time ago. You didn't know how to tell time, but you knew that way too many days and nights had gone by for it to be recent. Back then, you were much younger, and smaller too. Only around one third of how tall you were now. But then again, you didn't know how to measure either, so you couldn't give any exact numbers.

 

You are now older and bigger, and more aware of the world around you. Your hair had gotten longer, and you had learned the hard way that long nails broke and lead to pain so you filed them against rocks whenever they got too long (which was pretty frequently).

 

You had come into existence in a snowy, northern land, and had lived there since then. You've learned that the snow that covered every surface you had ever seen melted under your touch. If you put a finger in a mound of the icy substance, it would just…  _ evaporate _ , leaving columns of steam rising from the area of which you touched. 

 

Although, snow usually filled your prints back up fairly quickly, since there was such a huge abundance of it. It was practically always snowing. And when it wasn’t snowing, it was hailing (which was not a fun time, let me tell you.)

 

You learned that pine needles are pointy, so becoming a tree hugger was something you had decided against. Pine  _ smelled _ really strong though, so smelling but not touching was okay. Trees also couldn't hold your weight despite being much taller than you, so you couldn't climb any. 

 

 _Brown_ stuff rested underneath the layers and layers of snow you lived on, but it was as hard as rock (presumably from the cold snow). You sometimes put your hand on it to warm it up, just so you could scoop handfuls of it and make _mud_ piles to play with. That, and you also just liked the _earthy_ _smell_ the _dirt_ emitted. It's aroma was stronger than the snow too, which just smelled _watery_. 

 

Mountains and valleys rose and dipped with the terrain. You sometimes climbed mountains, walking uphill in between trees, climbing over boulders that were simply stepping stones to you, and bushwhacking your way to the top of the summit until you looked over the white and green wash with flat dips of frozen water, of the landscape you called home. The wind was rough and unforgiving on mountain tops, but you had grown used to it. The wind was calmer in valleys, and almost seemed to roll over you if you ducked down. 

 

The landscape also contained various rivers, streams, and frozen lakes. If the water body wasn't fully frozen, then it at least had pancakes of ice floating on top of it. But most of the time it was frozen. You had been walking the day you discovered that not only can the ice not hold you, but it, too, melted like the snow under your feet. You had walked across with not a care in the world, up until steam started to fizzle from your steps and you fell in with a surprised cry. 

 

Which led to your first bath. 

 

Which lasted for  _ hours _ . 

 

Which heated the water, successfully creating a hot spring. 

 

You liked  _ splashing _ , creating different  _ waves _ , and blowing  _ bubbles _ . The water made your hair stick flat against your head, so you enjoyed whipping your head around to spray the water everywhere and spike your hair up. Spitting out the water was fun too, and you had discovered that you could swallow it! You didn’t know where it went, but normally after gulping down some, steam would rise up from your throat and out of your mouth, making the foggy clouds that you breathed out on a regular basis thicker. But then the water in the lake started to evaporate and your fingers got all wrinkly so you reluctantly got out. However, you tried to bathe a lot after that. 

 

You had accidentally breathed water in one time, resulting in a suffocating feeling tightening your throat. You had panicked, frightened, scared and confused. Your chest hurt, burned, convulsed. Liquid gargled up in your mouth, and you wanted to thrash and cry out, but it hurt more to move or make noise. Wetness started streaming down your cheeks… from your eyes? Was this what happened to the water you drank? More moisture started beading up along your forehead, neck, shoulders, chest, and back. Steam flowed out of your mouth endlessly as you whimpered helplessly. The burning,  _ acidic _ pain within your upper body only lasted a few moments, before it faded out to a dull throb, then was gone. You blinked rapidly as the tears and moisture along your face and upper body began disappearing in thin, misty columns. You had healed somehow. However, the experience was not an enjoyable one, so you vowed never to do that again. 

 

You weren’t alone in your snowy wonderland either. Other creatures like you existed, but they weren't exactly the same as you. You had eagerly tried to befriend a few, but some of them ignored your existence while others attacked you. You had learned to defend yourself through this repetition of getting attacked by your own kind, and you had grown a disliking for them. 

 

There weren't many of your kind up in this area anyway. Hardly any, actually. You’d only ever encountered the same amount of beings like you as  _ fingers _ you had on both  _ hands _ . You had a feeling it had to do with most of them liking warmer temperatures, which probably resigned in southern regions. But that was just a theory.

 

Personally, you didn’t find the cold very, well,  _ cold _ . You thought this was because your body emitted heat for some strange reason, but again, that was just another theory of yours.

 

Strangely enough, you had made some observations about the other creatures like you. Some were taller than you and some were smaller. Some had really  _ weird _ looking bodies while others had bodies that looked fairly similar to yours. However, the thing that intrigued you most was the few you had seen with hair on their  _ face and bodies _ . It looked cool, and you wondered why you didn’t have it, or if you ever would have it. You sometimes checked your reflection in the running sheen of a waterfall (that was probably to strong to get frozen) to see if any hairs had sprouted along your jaw or chest. So far, none yet.

 

Along with the rare scattering of beings like you, you found many other, fascinating creatures that inhabited this snowy world with you. They were all much smaller than you, which was a little frustrating at times because you'd have to get close in order to see any detail from your distance in the sky, which would only scare the  _ animal _ off. 

 

Sometimes, if you stayed really still for an  _ agonizingly  _ long time, flying animals would circle and maybe land of your shoulders or head.  _ Birds _ . Some were smaller than your pupil, and some covered the span of your thumb. Some were colorful, some were as white as the snow, and some had speckles. You liked watching flocks of them soar across the sky in coordinated patterns. You'd also panicked when you saw a bird's head turn  _ all the way around _ for the first time. The bird was fine, thankfully, but you had sulked for a whole four days after trying to do it yourself but discovering you couldn’t. (You’d walked yourself in several circles in failed attempts to do the bird’s head magic trick.)

 

Four legged animals prowled the snowy grounds too. Some had pointy displays on their heads, some had soft fur and sharp claws, some had long tails, some had short tails, some had long ears, some had short ears, some had hooves, some had paws, some had little button noses while others had jaws full of teeth. Some fought playfully, while others fought to get bloody, and you had broken up battles many times, which resulted in the initiator of the fight biting your hand (but it tickled to you). Sometimes while you stayed still and quiet with birds resting on your head and shoulders, the four legged ones would curl up around your legs and lap to leech off heat. 

 

You sometimes saw animals putting things in their mouths and swallowing, the way you did with water. But you only did it for fun, while the animals seemed to  _ need _ to do… whatever the action was called. Some animals swallowed plants, but when you tried it, you didn’t like the bitter taste. The thing that shook you, was when some animals ate  _ each other _ . The first time you saw an animal  _ kill _ another animal and consume it, you didn’t react well. You had huddled yourself in a cave for a week straight, trying to convince yourself that the wetness dripping down your face was just coming from cracks and crevices in the rock ceiling. Whatever purpose animals had for putting things in their mouths, was  _ taking another animal's life  _ really necessary? 

 

Maybe they were just defending themselves, the way you did when encountering similar beings like you? But you hadn’t  _ swallowed _ anything after you had beaten another you-creature off! You had never  _ stolen  _ another living creature’s  _ life _ ! You had never _ killed _ anyone! If another one like you attacked you, you only punched it around enough to daze it and make an escape!

 

As your thoughts ate away at your brain that week, giving you a headache to accompany the pain in your chest, you realized a weak link between the creatures like you that attacked, and the animals that attacked. The world you lived in was darker than you thought. In this world, it seemed you could either kill, or  _ be _ killed.

 

❄❈❄❆❄❊❄❋❄❉❄❅❄

 

Your recovery from that week after eventually emerging from the cave involved a long bath (this one much, much calmer than usual) and loud chirping in your ears from the birds that found the water quiet and still enough to join you. 

 

That was the night you began to wonder why your eyes refused to stay open when the bright, glowing orb of light that moved across the sky decided to hide behind the line of the horizon. Before that night in the bath with the birds, watching them chase each other’s feathered tails around in the water, you had never questioned why your eyes never got to see what actually happened when the light went down. Your eyes just shut the second the light went down, and opened the second it came back up. As if you didn’t have the energy to function without it. 

 

That was how it had always been, but now, as the sky became painted in bright oranges, yellows, pinks, and purples, dusting bright outlines and shimmers through the tops and branches of snow-covered pine trees, you found yourself fighting to keep your eyes open for the first time to at least catch a glimpse of  _ what happens _ . 

 

Most of the birds had retreated back into the trees, and you slowly sat up in your bath, water hiking trails down your huge body and the tops of your knees breaking through the surface of the lake. Half of the light was visible above the line of the horizon. You turned around to look directly opposite the light’s descent. While the slowly sinking orb’s side was bright and colorful, the parallel side of the sky was a dark wash of blue, and… what was  _ that? _

 

While the light was setting, a white other orb that glowed faintly was rising. It was a perfect circle. Wait, it wasn’t entirely white. It had gray splotches that kind of resembled a face. 

 

You smiled shyly and waved “hello”. Your eyes stung, and your eyelids felt heavy from staying open longer than they were used to. You turned back around in the lukewarm water, creating small waves, to see the light from the colorful side was almost entirely gone, and you felt your energy depleting as fast as the light was disappearing. It was like the light was taking your energy with it. You turned back around to look at the rising face, settling your tired head down at the edge of your natural bath. The last thing you saw before dozing off were tiny freckles of smaller white lights surrounding the bigger one with the face.

 

❄❈❄❆❄❊❄❋❄❉❄❅❄

 

You woke up the next day from a dreamless sleep per usual, you didn’t even know what dreams were. However, half the water from the lake you were still curled up in was gone, and you quickly crawled out before all of it went away. Closing your eyes to yawn and stretch, you wondered what you were going to do today.

 

You enjoyed exploring around, having a rather large play space with a less populated territory. Sometimes you’d wander too far north, and you’d have to turn back before you got  _ really _ cold. This time, you thought, you would go down south to see if you could find others of your kind that might want to be your friend. 

 

Little did you know that this would be a day that changed your life.

 

❄❈❄❆❄❊❄❋❄❉❄❅❄

 

As you had walked, the snow that fell constantly had gotten lighter, powderier, and softer. They were more like gentle flurries at this point, and they were new to you, but nice. You had no idea how far south you had come, but the light was still rising when you started out, and it was now well past the midpoint in the sky. 

 

You stopped walking, groaned loudly out of boredom and looked for something to do. You sat down and checked your finger and toenails to see if they were getting long. Nope. 

 

You picked up a pile of snow and put it on your head. It melted slowly and ran down through your hair making wet trails, tickling your scalp and nape. You giggled and wiped some water away. 

 

You lay on your back, sprawled your legs out and started moving your limbs back and forth in the snow. After a while, you sat up, heaving hand-shaped indents in the print of your back, and stood up to look at what you had done. 

 

A huge crater had been made in the snow, half of it resembled the outline of you with hands and feet clumsily decorating the torso, while the limbs looked like giant wings. You smiled, and continued walking.

 

After several good, long, and boring hours of treading through the snow, you came across a giant… rock barricade of some sort, but it wasn't like anything you had ever seen. You were surprised at this unexpected event, boredom completely replaced by curiosity. It stretched on as far as you could see on either side of you, and went up for what seemed like the height of a mountain… but flatter. Curious, you watched it from a distance for a while, before slowly approaching it and placing a gentle hand on the…  _ smooth _ surface. How had you ever missed this? Well, you had never come down this far south, for one thing.

 

Brushing your fingertips against this strangely textured mountain made you wonder what was on the other side of it, and if there was a way for you to get to it. The snow fluttered around you and the wind ruffled your hair in spurts as you stood thinking. 

 

Rocks usually crumbled when you threw other rocks at them, and also if you punched them. However, you tried to refrain from punching rocks since the last time you did, your knuckles bent in weird ways and nearly got ripped out in a red, gooey mess. Sure, you healed, but it stung, was gross, and you just didn't want it to happen again.

 

Settling on smashing what you had decided to call a  _ wall _ , you set off along one side of it in search of a rock. After a few minutes of overruling different sized stones, you spotted one that was about the size of your head. Smiling in satisfaction, you gripped the rock and hauled it onto one of your shoulders with a grunt. You stepped a few paces back from the wall, took a few quick breaths in preparation, then hurled the boulder toward the wall.

 

The rock flew through the air, and hit the stone wall with a satisfying  _ CRACK! _ As the boulder fell back down, mainly unharmed, you saw that a dent had been made where the rock had hit. Several of the bricks crumbled and cracked, but none fell out. You decided to try again.

 

_ SLAP! _ Still just crumbs and crumbles.

 

_ CRASH! _ Some more cracks and a deeper dent.

 

_ SMASH! _ One brick fell onto the other side, and you heard a muffled thump.

 

 _CRACK!_ _CRUNCH! BAM!_ Several more bricks fell, you could see what looked like a pine tree branch on the other side.

 

_ CCSSHHH! _ This time, the rock smashed right through the dent, creating a hole, and landing rather loudly on the other side.

 

You took a few cautious steps towards the hole, for fear of something bad being on the other side. Suddenly, a voice ripped through the snowy quiet.

 

¨Hey!¨

 

Startled, you jumped back with a surprised (and embarrassingly high-pitched) cry, having not expected something - or some _ one _ \- to be on the other side. 

 

You saw the snow on the pine tree on the other side of the wall fall off as it shook. Slowly and clumsily, a little…  _ boy _ crawled up the pine tree, onto the outstretched branch (that somehow survived the airborne boulder) and step into the hole you had made, right over the probably deadly high gap in between. Your eyes widened, you had never seen a creature like you  _ this _ small before, he could probably fit inside your palm!

 

The little you-creature looked at you from the other side of the tunnel with a gloved hand gripping to a rubble-glazed brick on the inside of the wall. He had eyes that looked a little scared, slightly angry, confused, and mostly curious.  _ Milky _ brown eyelids blinked over his  _ rich _ brown irises. His dry looking lips were parted a little, and flecks of snow stuck to his short, curly brown hair in specks. His nose and cheeks were red, and he had a thick wrapping around his neck, along with a another thing covering his ears, and plush looking adornments surrounding his torso and legs that descended into big footwear. 

 

You had jumped back quite a distance from the hole with your arms now up in front of you as protection, so this boy was too far away to be a threat. Not that he'd be hard to take down considering his size if he wanted to attack you like the others had.

 

You blinked your own (E/C) eyes back at him (the nictitating membrane, since you couldn’t afford to let a possible threat out of your sight, even for a second), waiting to see what his first move would be, that is, if he intended on making it. 

 

He took a steady step closer, heavy…  _ boots _ making a soft  _ thump _ on the newly made (boulder-carved) surface. 

 

¨You're… a…  _ titan _ !¨ He whisper-yelled in amazement. He sounded like something unbelievable was occurring. His voice wasn’t squeaky, but still high-pitched.

 

So  _ that's _ what you were: a titan! You smiled slightly at this newly-gained knowledge, and lowered your arms a little, letting your tensed muscles relax. This little titan didn’t seem like a threat, and he could communicate! You wondered what exactly it was that he was wearing, you had never seen a creature need to put extra things on them before.

 

¨I've… never seen one before… only drawings and- and stories.¨ He murmured in fascination, eyes brightly lit. ¨You're supposed to eat me, and crush me into a bloody pulp… or the other way around - what's different with you?¨ He asked, thinking aloud. 

 

You understood what he had said, but not the content itself. He'd never seen one before? But wasn't he a titan too? There's tales about titans? Was eating what you called putting things in your mouth and swallowing? And why would you want to crush this little titan? He didn't seem like a threat in any way! You already knew you were slightly different from the other titans you had met, but were you  _ that _ abnormal?

 

The boy noticed your conflicted expression, your arms now completely at your sides. He gasped in a small realization. ¨Can you… understand me?¨ 

 

You didn't exactly know how to convey the answer 'yes', but something told you to move your head. You shook it gently from side to side, hair moving with your movements and the wind, which was making a barely-audible whistling sound when it went through the hole the boy was in. Now it was the boy's turn to look confused. 

 

¨Wait, so you can’t?¨ No, no, you  _ could _ . How do you say no? 

 

This time you nodded your head up and down, hoping for him to translate it into 'no'. Now the boy looked amused; here was a titan who could probably understand him, yet claiming that it couldn't.

 

¨Hold on, hold on, I think you have it mixed up.¨ He giggled and took a few more steps to the edge of the wall closest to you, and sat down with his legs crossed. You blinked in confusion, awaiting what the child would say next to explain what he meant. You had  _ clearly _ said yes, then no.  _ He _ was the one mixing it up.

 

¨Shaking your head from side to side means 'no'.¨ He told you with a grin, while demonstrating the head movements. ¨Nodding your head up and down means 'yes'.¨

 

Huh. You uttered out a sound that vaguely resembled an ¨oh¨. You weren't entirely sure if this information was correct, but you'd take his word for it for now. 

 

Realizing you were still at a distance from the boy in the wall, you stepped closer slowly, as not to startle him. Your feet made gentle  _ crunches _ in the snow, leaving large foot-shaped imprints. 

 

Now practically face-to-face and head level with this boy, you smiled and he looked at you in awe, eyes sparkling. 

 

¨A real titan... ¨ He drawled again. ¨I'm probably the only person in all the Northern Districts who's ever seen one!¨ He exclaimed, grinning widely. ¨They said titans don't really live up here, more down near the Southern Districts. I guess you're one of the rare ones, huh? An abnormal?¨

 

You were still confused, your unasked questions from before had yet to be answered. You understood what the boy meant by titans being more common down South, because you had predicted that yourself. The boy's statement just confirmed it. And again, you knew for a fact now that you were a deviant from the other titans. 

 

He continued talking, no longer whispering. ¨So you can understand me… yes? Nod your head up and down for 'yes', remember, side to side means 'no'.¨

 

You nodded.

 

He smiled, and then let out a short, breathy  _ laugh _ . “This is real, and so, so cool!” He finished with a shout that echoed around the tunnel and outside the wall, arms raised in the air. You smiled with him in agreement. This  _ was _ cool.

 

Now that both of you were much more relaxed and seeing eye-to-eye, he started firing curious questions at you eagerly.

 

“So, which titan class are you? I can’t tell… maybe you’re 15 meters? I think so. Is it true that you’re near immortal? That the only weak point is the back of your neck? So, if I were to chop off your legs, they would just grow back? Not that I would, don’t worry. I’m not a Survey Corps guy, ha ha! You don’t have digestive systems either, have you ever eaten people? Do you blink? Do you need to breathe? Do you have a heartbeat? What color is your blood? Hey… you don’t have a peni-”

 

You cut off the boy’s never-ending stream with a low series of humorous growls as if to say ‘woah, woah, woah, slow down there!’

 

He grinned sheepishly.

 

“Sorry, let’s just start with the basics then? My name is Benjamin. Benjamin Titenfisch.” 

 

Benjamin. That’s what you’ll call him. 

 

“What is your name?”

 

You frowned. You understood that a name was what people called each other, but no one had ever called you anything. You shrugged to convey that you didn’t have one.

 

Benjamin’s lips turned down to match yours, then he squinted his eyes as if he were thinking. After a few moments, he clapped his hands.

 

“(Y/N)! You look like an (Y/N)! I’m going to call you (Y/N). Is it alright if I call you (Y/N)?”

 

Fine with you. Once again, you smiled and nodded.


	2. Benjamin Titenfisch

“Moooooom! Cydney stole one of my ink bottles!” 

 

“You weren’t using it! You have others!”

 

“But I need them  _ all _ for school!”

 

“It’s Saturday, Abigale! There is no school!”

 

“So? They’re  _ my _ inks and I was planning on drawing today! You never asked!”

 

Suddenly, a hand snatched the box-shaped ink bottle Cydney was holding in her hand away, audible sloshing coming from the darkly-tinted glass container. Both Abigale and Cydney looked up sharply from where they were glaring at each other, and tried to nab the ink vial back from their mother. 

 

“Hey!”, “You can’t grab that!”, “Give it back!” 

 

Their mother simply held it up out of their reach and weaved her way around the table where Benjamin was sitting (watching and trying not to laugh) to put it on a high shelf in the kitchen. She turned around, grabbed both girls by their ears, and firmly sat them down at the table, ignoring the whines and complaints.

 

“She took them in the first place! Why can’t you just give them back to me?” Abigale protested.

 

Mrs. Titenfisch held up a hand to stop both of them from talking more. “It’s too early for this, and you girls are too old to be acting so immature! Now eat your breakfast, be quiet, and try to get along or you won’t be seeing any inks for a week!”

 

Benjamin sipped some water out of his favorite cup with the blue stripe.

 

“But we need them for school!” Their mother harshly shushed them, and they finally ate their breakfast omelettes while scowling and grumbling spitefully. 

 

Now might be a good time to mention that this is Benjamin’s family. His mother and father had kids later in life, but when they did, they had three. Abigale was the oldest (10 years), Benjamin was the middle child (9 years), and Cydney was the youngest (8 years). Abigale and Cydney, Benjamin’s sisters, didn’t fight often and got along for the most part, in fact. Occasionally, however, spouts would arise between any or all of them. (Then again, that’s to be expected from siblings.)

 

The entire family had short hair and brown eyes. Cydney and Benjamin shared their mother’s curly darker hair, while Abigale had their father’s more wavy, lighter locks. They lived in the northern most district that branched off of Wall Maria. Titans were much less of a worry up north, so most of the rich, like Benjamin’s family, lived up there. Both his parents had artistic jobs. 

 

There was a catch however, for living in a tundra of a land made life harder, and colder. Coats, boots, hot springs and constant public firepits 24/7 were a demand. “The common cold” had an entirely different meaning in these parts. Attempting to farm fruits was futile, so the sweet produce was frequently shipped in from the interior (though less recently due to famine down south). Thankfully, crops such as potatoes, beets, and carrots (to name a few) could grow in cold weather, so a vegetable and green shortage was almost always available if they weren’t being sent off for other villages.

 

People raised some animals that survived in the cold, but meat wasn’t plentiful. Fortunately, the animal owners always made sure they never killed one too many of their stock. Babies, sick ones, and small ones were never killed, and the killing process was as humane as possible: quick and painless. All in all, there was enough food and luxuries to make up for the three feet of snow that had piled up outside this morning.

 

Benjamin put the last forkful of omelette in his mouth, chewed quickly, swallowed, finished his water, and brought his plate and empty cup to the sink. “Done!”

 

He ran into the front hall, catching himself as his socked feet caused him to slip on the wood floor, tugged on his thick coat, scarf, earmuffs, snow pants, gloves, and boots, and ran out the door with a quick, “Bye mom! Bye guys!”

 

The door slammed shut behind him, but if his mother had tried to scold him for it, he couldn’t hear. Benjamin had already started running through the snow and around the house to the forest behind his home. There was no school today, it  _ was _ a Saturday after all, so he’d get in as much playing time as he could!

 

His family’s house was not a huge one, but it was spacious. Definitely not a small shack. It was at the end of a quiet lane where a lot of fat, old people lived. Carriage tracks were almost entirely faded in the snow-coated street, and they’d most likely stay that way since no one would be willing to leave the warm comfort of their homes on a Saturday. The only other local kids lived several streets over, and Benjamin wasn’t as close with those kids anyway. None of them shared his interest for the outside world, titans, or much less the Survey Corps. 

 

All anyone cared about up here was their own comfy living desires, since no one had the need to pay mind to such things as Titans! No one in the interior or the northern districts had ever seen one, only read about them in biased newspaper articles claiming that the Survey Corps’ efforts were all for naught. 

 

Everyone agreed with the paper for the most part, but Benjamin and his family thought otherwise. Though he and his sibling’s parents told them to keep those thoughts inside the home, and the home only. For saying your opinions out loud in public  _ can _ and  _ will _ get you into big trouble.

 

After making it around his house and past the entrance of pine trees, all sounds filtered out to a blissful quiet. Soft crunches from the snow under boot and distant tweets of faraway birds accompanied the silence here and there. 

 

Like the rest of his family, Benjamin liked his quiet alone time. Yes, all five of them liked hosting parties and being social, but only for so long. Time to temporarily run away was a necessity. His father was probably still sleeping in his parent’s room right now, in fact! 

 

Benjamin followed his usual path, his footsteps from last night could still be made out in the ground. He giggled while trying to fit his boots perfectly into the slots made before, until he reached what his mom called “Benjamin’s Ice Rock”. It was a huge boulder, nearly four times his height, and roughly two times it’s own height in length. His father had carved steps into the back, but they got coated over with ice (he still climbed it anyway sometimes). Huge icicles hung off the front, and Benjamin broke off one of the smaller runts to chew while he continued his walk. 

 

As he trekked through the snow, he took the slowly shrinking icicle out of his mouth from time to time when the cold started to sting his tongue and cheeks, eventually his teeth went a little numb. He stepped over a tree root. It started snowing gently; Benjamin switched the icicle over to his other cheek. 

 

The distance between the trees started getting wider, until he came to a familiar small clearing and the oh-so-familiar gray bricks of the District Wall. Just a few layers of rock away lay the outside world.

 

Benjamin could count the times on several hands  _ and _ feet where he had searched for a loose brick pocket to sneak outside momentarily to see what it was like. He had never found a loose brick, but he kept looking. 

 

There was also a huge, lonely pine that grew squat up against the wall, branches bent permanently sideways since they couldn’t break through the wall. Benjamin liked climbing the tree, though the view from the top wasn’t any different from the view on the bottom: pine trees and sky.

 

The icicle had gotten small enough to put inside his mouth, so he crunched the ice loudly while he stooped down to pick up a handful of snow and meld it into a sphere. Swallowing his cold slush with a shiver, he drew his arm back and threw the snowball at the cold stone. The snow splattered on the wall and left a small mark of snow that stuck to the wall. 

 

Benjamin made another snowball, and hurled that one at the wall as well. Not out of rage or a lame attempt to break the wall, just to decorate the rock with white splotches of snow that stuck to it. After a few rounds of snow, Benjamin let his arms take a break as he admired his constellation of snow dots on the wall. 

 

He wiped his nose that was starting to run a little, and looked up to see that the sun was at around midpoint in the sky. It was nearly lunch time already? How long had he been throwing snow at the bricks? His stomach gurgled a little, so he put a handful of snow in his mouth to calm it down for at least a few more minutes of snowballs. He should at least practice his aim in case someone planned to spring a snowball fight at the park! 

 

He made one more lumpy canonball of snow, lifted his knee up, and swung his recharged arm at the wall. Just as the snow hit the stone’s surface, a deafening  _ CRACK _ sound emitted from the wall, so loud that echoes weaved in between the trees and birds fluttered out of their nests.

 

_ Woah! Did he throw the snowball that hard? Maybe he accidentally picked up ice or something? _

 

Eyebrows now practically threatening to become one with his hairline, Benjamin tried throwing another snowball just as hard. 

 

_ SLAP! _

 

Wait, that slap was a little off time with when his snowball splattered against the wall. His eyebrows now scrunched together in curiosity and confusion. If he wasn’t making those noises on the wall, what was?

 

Suddenly, he jumped as he heard another  _ CRASH! _ His eyebrows headed north again. That sounded like a rock hitting the wall from the  _ other side _ ! What was going on?

 

_ SMASH! _ A brick way high up on the wall fell out and landed in the snow below it with a hard  _ thump _ next to the one pine tree that grew right beside the wall. Benjamin stared at the brick, then back up at the place where the brick  _ used _ to sit snugly in with the others for decades.  _ What was going on? _

 

_ CRACK! CRUNCH! BAM! _ Several more bricks fell, making a small, crumbly pile next to the tree and wall. Benjamin took a scared and confused step backwards every time a loud noise came from behind the wall.  _ Who or what was breaking through the wall? The wall they said would hold something as strong as titans back? The wall that has held the titans back for 100 years, up until 5 years ago when the newspaper titles screamed of the Colossal and Armored titans breaking in! _

 

_ CCSSHHH! _ A boulder came flying in through the other side of the wall and landed with a loud  _ thunk _ right in front of where Benjamin now stood. The scream that  _ would’ve _ left his throat dry for days got stuck in his chest, and he found himself only able to shakingly gasp as he stumbled back from the boulder.  _ Too  _ close for comfort.

 

Mouth slightly agape, he leaned around the gargantuan rock and stared up at the freshly smashed hole in the wall. It seemed so far away from where he stood on the ground.  _ The wall had been broken! _

 

Eyebrows slowly crawling to angle downwards, he felt slight anger mix with his previous fear, confusion and curiosity. Where the anger came from, he wasn’t sure, but he had something big and important to find out!

 

Shaking his nerves back to life, Benjamin took determined, meaningful strides toward the tree he had climbed dozens of times before, and began traveling up it’s branches. 

 

One branch had been broken off when the huge rock went sailing through it, and said branch now dangled limply by a strand of bark. As he got closer to the hanging branch, Benjamin let out a shout to let  _ whoever _ was on the other side of the wall know he was coming. 

 

“Hey!” 

 

He pulled himself up around the dead branch, snow shaking off the needles as he went. By now he was even with the hole in the wall, and saw it was just as big is the boulder that made it. Which meant he could fit in the tunnel. He ignored the deadly high gap in between the tree and the new brick surface, and stepped right over it into the hole. He quickly gripped a dusty brick sticking out of the side of the channel, no doubt getting his glove dirty, and finally looked through to the other side.

 

What he saw knocked the breath out of his lungs.

 

Standing on the other side of the passageway, a good distance away, massive tensed arms held up, large eyebrows drawn, big mouth open, breathing out heavy puffs of steam with every exhale, was a  **titan** . 

 

Benjamin blinked a few times in case he was somehow dreaming. The titan blinked a humongous third, clear, sideways eyelid back at him. He wasn’t dreaming.

 

Benjamin took a trembling, tentative step towards the enormous creature that was up until now, simply mythical to someone like him. 

 

“You’re… a…  _ titan _ !” He breathed. This was  _ impossible _ .  _ Never _ in his entire life would Benjamin think he’d get a chance to see one. He had mentioned  _ once _ about maybe joining the survey corps, but had suffered a week inside in grounding as a result. No one outside of southern Wall Maria had  _ ever _ laid eyes on the telltale beast, yet, here one was  _ right now _ ! 

 

And…and it… it wasn’t reaching out to eat him.

 

¨I've… never seen one before… only drawings and- and stories.¨ Benjamin murmured in fascination, eyes brightly lit. ¨You're supposed to eat me, and crush me into a bloody pulp… or the other way around - what's different with you?¨ He asked, thinking aloud. 

 

He noticed the titan’s hefty muscles had relaxed, arms at it’s sides. Benjamin looked up at the titan’s face, to see it’s giant (E/C) eyes had scrunched together, making it look confused. 

 

Wait… titans were supposed to have limited thoughts and emotions, and much less facial expressions. This one had easily gone from defensive to looking confused in  _ a moment _ . 

 

Benjamin gasped in upon his realization. ¨Can you… understand me?¨ 

 

The titan paused for a moment-  _ processing his words!? _ \- then shook it’s head from side to side. 

 

… What? 

 

“Wait, so you can’t?” Now Benjamin was  _ very _ confused and  _ very _ curious.

 

The titan nodded it’s head up and down. Then Benjamin realized the problem of what was going on with amusement. ¨Hold on, hold on, I think you have it mixed up.¨ He giggled and took a few more steps to the edge of the dusty tunnel where the powdery snow had started to sugar coat the ground, and sat down with his legs crossed. This titan didn’t seem like a threat in the slightest anyway.

 

The titan blinked again, it’s regular eyelids this time. It was…  _ waiting _ for Benjamin to explain what he meant! 

 

¨Shaking your head from side to side means 'no'.¨ He told the giant with a grin, while demonstrating the head movements. ¨Nodding your head up and down means 'yes'.¨

 

He watched eagerly as the humanoid beast took in what he said.  _ This was wild! _

 

The titan’s facial expression changed to that of unsure, but it let out a little noise as if to acknowledge that it had taken in Benjamin’s words. 

 

The titan seemed to realize it was still at a distance away from where Benjamin sat nearly drooling at the very edge of the stone cliff. It took gentle steps towards him,  _ trying not to startle him _ ! It was obvious this titan was some degree of intelligent! What did the survey corps call intelligent or different titans? That’s right, abnormals!

 

The  _ abnormal’s _ heavy feet made crunches in the snow many meters below, but Benjamin found himself unable to pay attention to anything other that the titan and it’s face as it drew nearer. Finally it stood close enough for Benjamin to feel the little bits of snow in his hair melt into warm trickles that ran down his neck as the titan’s hot breath hit it. 

 

Benjamin looked up into the large (E/C) eyes of the titan, and noticed that he could see his own awed expression reflected back to him in the glassy moisture on the giant’s orbs.

 

¨A real titan... ¨ He drawled again. ¨I'm probably the only person in all the Northern Districts who's ever seen one!¨ Benjamin exclaimed, grinning widely. ¨They said titans don't really live up here, more down near the Southern Districts. I guess you're one of the rare ones, huh? An abnormal?¨

 

The titan blinked down at him, and for a second Benjamin saw his reflection disappear and then reappear. It breathed out a puff of air, and Benjamin found himself feeling hotter.

 

He continued talking, no longer whispering. ¨So you can understand me… yes? Nod your head up and down for 'yes', remember, side to side means 'no'.¨

 

The titan nodded. It  _ could  _ understand Benjamin!

 

He smiled, and then let out a short, breathy laugh. “This is real, and so, so cool!” He finished with a shout that echoed around the tunnel and outside the wall, arms raised in the air. The titan smiled down at him again, seemingly in agreement.

 

Benjamin quickly retracted his arms and started bouncing up and down in his seated position, then he started firing off excited questions at the titan.

 

“So, which titan class are you? I can’t tell… maybe you’re 15 meters? I think so. Is it true that you’re near immortal? That the only weak point is the back of your neck? So, if I were to chop off your legs, they would just grow back? Not that I would, don’t worry. I’m not a Survey Corps guy, ha ha! You don’t have digestive systems either, have you ever eaten people? Do you blink? Well, I’ve seen you blink, but do you need to? Do you need to breathe? Do you have a heartbeat? What color is your blood? Hey… you don’t have a peni-”

 

Suddenly a low series of anything but deadly sounding growls cut Benjamin off. He looked at the titan to see it looked quite humoured, and a tad frazzled.

 

He grinned sheepishly.

 

“Sorry, let’s just start with the basics then? My name is Benjamin. Benjamin Titenfisch.” 

 

The titan’s content smile remained. 

 

“What is your name?”

 

Now the titan’s smile dissipated. It shrugged. 

 

It didn’t have a name?

 

Benjamin’s lips turned down to match the titan’s frown, and he squinted his eyes as he tried to come up with a name for his new found titan friend. He took in the features of the titan, physical body, facial structures, hair, eyes, and what little personality he had the honor of meeting for the past few minutes. After a few moments, Benjamin clapped his hands.

 

“(Y/N)! You look like an (Y/N)! I’m going to call you (Y/N). Is it alright if I call you (Y/N)?”

 

Benjamin felt joy and pride swell in his heart when the titan smiled again, and nodded.

 

He had so many more questions, and he was sure (Y/N) probably had some as well. He opened his mouth to continue their chatter, when another voice broke the bubble he and the titan had formed.

 

“Benjamin! Benjamin! Where are you? Benjamin! You missed lunch! Benjamin!”

 

Oh no. That was Abigale! 

 

Benjamin whirled around to look at the other side of the tunnel, which was partially shielded by the pine tree. He quickly turned back when the titan started to make confused little grunts, and desperately tried to shush it. Thankfully, it got the message and stayed quiet, but the eyes had picked up Benjamin’s panic.

 

What if Abigale discovered the titan? Titans weren’t even supposed to be up here, and the walls were supposed to be unbreakable (exception 5 years ago)! This wall had been smashed by  _ one _ 15-meter class abnormal! There was no telling what would happen to him if word spread!

 

“Benjamin! Come on! It’s cold and I want to go inside!”

 

Benjamin got to his feet, not bothering to dust his rear and pants off from the brick rubble and wet snow trails. He moved his hands in a hopefully reassuring manner towards the titan, telling it to  _ stay put _ and  _ stay silent _ .

 

“Benjamiiiiiiiiiiin! Where are you? Come out already!”

 

He ran to the pine tree, and quickly began to climb down, which took an impressively short amount of time since he knew the tree by heart by now and he was also running on adrenaline. Benjamin landed at the bottom with a  _ thump _ , boots making new indents in the white fluff. He quickly maneuvered around the pile of brick, around the boulder the titan had used to break the wall, and dashed onto the forest trail to follow his sister’s calls. 

 

Only about a dozen strides in, he ran into his older sister who seemed rather irritated about being the one chosen to come fetch Benjamin. Her brown eyes were the only things peeking out from her winter coat’s hood, and scarf wrapped around her mouth and nose. 

 

“Where have you been? You missed lunch.” Abigale chastised, slightly muffled by the scarf.

 

Benjamin flushed a bit, though he could play it off as cold. “Ah, sorry. I’ll come in now, just five more minutes?”

 

Abigale didn’t look swayed. “ ‘Five minutes’ meaning ‘five hours’. You need to eat, and we’re supposed to have a blizzard in a few hours anyway. Come on inside already!”

 

“Please, please, please! It’ll only be five minutes! I promise!” Benjamin pleaded.

 

Abigale sighed. “Okay, five minutes. But I’m waiting right here until your time is up!”

 

Benjamin grinned. “Thanks!”

 

He ran back down the snowy path, hoping the titan was still there and hadn’t knocked down the rest of the wall.

 

He got to the clearing, ran around the boulder, stopped at the brick pile to pant, and upped the tree in one, tired go. When Benjamin got to the tunnel, he lay on his back for a few minutes trying to regain his breath.

 

He immediately heard confused and concerned growls and grunts come from where the titan was still, thankfully, standing. He waved his hand in the titans direction, which simmered it’s noise. Having caught his breath, he stood upright and spoke to the titan’s worried eyes.

 

“Okay, so I only have about five minutes, probably less by now… but anyway, that was my sister-” Cue a confused raised eyebrow, “-Abigale, and long story short I won’t be able to talk to you until tomorrow. But I have an idea! If you stay near this hole in the wall, I can meet you and we can talk then! Sound good?”

 

Benjamin was pretty sure the titan was still trying to process what he had said when it nodded anyway, happy that everything was more or less alright. He grinned and waved goodbye, then laughed when the titan slowly imitated the gesture. 

 

Content all problems of the moment were fixed, Benjamin headed back down the tree, met his sister, and headed back to their house for lunch.


	3. The Chapter In Which Shit Starts Moving Along

The sun has come up and gone down several times since your first encounter with Benjamin. What was it called? A day! It’s been three days since you two first met.

 

He tried to get out to the wall as much as possible, and you’d always be waiting close enough to hear when he did come.

 

You’d grown accustomed to the large pine trees that grew taller than you in this area, and the snow here always seemed to be softer than what you were used to.

 

The first day you and Benjamin met was also the day the blizzard of the week rolled in, and stayed there for two days. The clouds that blocked out any blue of the sky were always just as blindingly white as they snow they let down. _This_ snow was heavier, and fell faster like the stuff you were used to. And even though the sun and sky were hidden from view, you always could tell where the sun was because that section of clouds always seemed to glow. All this made the blizzard feel more like home to you.

 

Benjamin now wore more… _clothes_ during his visits in the blizzard. He’d tried to teach you how to talk, but so far, nothing. You made way with trying to orchestrate your grunts and growls to seem decipherable as a sentence, which was working well enough.

 

On the last day of the blizzard, and three days after first meeting Benjamin, he came a tad later than usual, explaining how he had to make a believable excuse to his _parents_ and _family_ about why it was necessary to go out and play in a blizzard. You had been sitting in front of the wall and Benjamin now sat above you, bundled in at least three extra scarves, but you could still see each other just fine.

 

You’d inquired about his family. What was a _family_? Who was in his family? And… how do you get one?

 

When you’d asked how to get a family on that last day of the blizzard, Benjamin fell quiet for a few moments. He’d blinked a few times, and looked down at your hopeful gaze indifferently.

 

Benjamin replied slowly, “You’re just… born with one. It’s, it’s how you’re alive. Even if you don’t have sisters or brothers, your parents are the reason you were born, and they’re still your family. Weren’t you born?”

 

_Were’t you born?_

 

You didn’t even know _what_ allowed you to be sitting on this ground, to be in this world. _How_ had you come to exist? You’d never bothered to wonder about that much, and there was never a need to know! _Were_ you born? Did you have parents? Did you have a family?

 

Why didn’t you have one now?

 

Benjamin had sensed your inner turmoil when your eyes started darting around anywhere but where he was. He reached out with a quiet voice, trying to calm you down. “Hey…”

 

You paused your silent freak out, but didn’t look back at Benjamin. Why didn’t you have a family?

 

“It’s okay if you don’t have a family! Actually, sometimes your friends can be your family! Do you have any friends?” He asked optimistically, trying to cheer you up.

 

Now your gaze shifted back to him, shy, but hopeful. Benjamin was your friend, right?

 

His expression became shocked for a split second, then broke out into a happy, boyish grin. “Yes,” He giddily responded, “I am your friend.”

 

You smiled.

 

❄❈❄❆❄❊❄❋❄❉❄❅❄

 

That entire spiel happened yesterday. _Monday_ , Benjamin had called it. Today, (Tuesday? Tooz-daye?) as you sat with your back up against a giant pine facing what Benjamin told you was _east_ , you watched the _sun_ rise.

 

It was bright, colorful, and made everything seem so much nicer, so much fresher. You observed how it made the outlines of distant trees look fuzzy and orange, how the light reflected off the fresh snow from the blizzard that had finally ended last night.

 

After the whole bit about family and friends, Benjamin had switched over to tell you about the different directions: North, South, East, and West. He told you that the bright glowing orb that moved across the sky during the day was called the _sun_ , and the pale, white circle you had glimpsed during the night once before was called the moon.

 

He was cut off short by his _other_ sister Cydney coming to get him, but before he left, he promised to bring his _school books_ the next day so he could teach you more.

 

Admittedly, everything you had learned and encountered in the past four days brought you joy to no end. But as much as you loved everything that was happening here and now, you were beginning to get a tad bored of staying within the same perimeter of trees.

 

Benjamin was fascinating, and everything he was telling you was new and exhilarating, but you were stuck staring at the same hole in the same brick wall _all the time_. Nevermind the fact that you still didn’t have a good handle on time yet, it was nearing long enough!

 

You wondered where the endless expanse of wall that veered off on either side of you led to. How big was this wall? What did it hide from you?

 

You decided to ask Benjamin about it when he came later that day, to ask about the walls. As much as you loved being with Benjamin, you still had a thirst to explore _more_ , to uncover the mystery of the wall. Then maybe when you eventually had enough of exploring, you’d get homesick enough and head back up north again.

 

Satisfied with your resolution, you moved your back off the thick pine trunk and lay down flat in the snow. The sun rise had ended anyway, that bright colors had mostly faded to a baby blue, and the sun began it’s long crawl across the sky above.

 

The wall went up forever on one side of your view, and tree branches poked their way into the outskirts of your sight. You watched lines of steam spiral into your cloudless sky of vision, indicating the snow underneath you was melting.

 

You let out a happy sigh and closed your eyes.

 

❄❈❄❆❄❊❄❋❄❉❄❅❄

 

“(Y/N)! (Y/N)! (Y/N)! Hey, (Y/N)! (Y/N), wake up! Wake up! (Y/NNNNNNN)! (Y/N), come on!” A voice pierced through your hazy consciousness.

 

You didn’t open your eyes, and fought off the smile that threatened to grace your face.

 

“(Y/N)! I know you’re pretending! I see you smiling! (Y/N) you’re not funny! Come on! (Y/N)! Come oooooooon!” Benjamin whined some more, his light echoes bounced around the wintery air. You willed yourself to stay strong, knowing he was way up inside the hole, looking down on where you were still laying by the base of the wall.

 

Suddenly, you felt a small ball of wet smack down onto your cheek, and quickly sizzle and melt before dripping off the side of your face and just narrowly miss your ear.

 

You opened your eyes slowly, trying to fake just waking up.

 

“(Y/N), I know you weren’t sleeping! You know I know titans can’t sleep during the day!”

 

Suddenly you lurched up and put your face up close to the hole in the wall where Benjamin was and let out a big, “Rooooooooaaaaaaawwwwwwwrrrrrr!”

 

Benjamin held his arms up and stumbled back from the gush of hot, humid wind. “Grooooooss! (Y/N)!”

 

You felt him punch your nose, which didn’t hurt, and you laughed.

 

“Now I’m all sweaty and I smell like your stinky breath!” Benjamin complained.

 

You let out some more chuckles as he punched your nose once more for good measure, the sounds loud and layered.

 

“Now anyway, before I was so _rudely_ attacked by rank breath,” Benjamin- stressed the ‘rudely’, looking pointedly at you with a heatless glare. “I brought my school books like I promised!” He ran over to the entrance of the tunnel, where a small stack of four books sat in the light layer of foot-printed snow.

 

Benjamin picked the books up, came back to your side of the wall, and sat down at the edge as you tried to get as comfortable as you could standing. You opted to lean your forearms on the wall, and let your forehead rest against your arms as you peered into the tunnel at Benjamin.

 

“This,” Benjamin held up a book with a dark green cover. “Is my science book. This is mathematics, this is literature, and this is history.” He indicated each respective book, all dull, dark shades of either green, blue, red or brown. You listened intently.

 

“Science is like, how the world works, like the sun and trees and animals and things like that.” Benjamin continued. “Mathematics is just numbers, literature is reading and writing - which is boring - and history is stuff that happened in the past. Though, we don’t really have a long history.”

 

You grunted in question, so he explained. You had no idea what exactly these subjects were or why his kind knew all this information you didn’t, but it was interesting nonetheless.

 

“My teachers told me that one day, titans just _appeared_ and overnight, humanity almost went extinct, but then they somehow built these walls,” He gestured to the wall he was currently sitting in. “And for 100 years, we’ve been safe.”

 

Titans just _appeared_? And they were so bad that they almost wiped an entire species out of existence? You suddenly found yourself feeling not very fond of your own kind.

 

“Until 5 years ago that is.”

 

You brought your attention back to Benjamin, and sent another questioning look his way, urging him to continue. 5 years ago, what?

 

Benjamin explained. “5 years ago, when I was just 4, the Colossal and Armored titans broke through Wall Maria-”

 

“Hrrmm?” You cut him off. What was Wall Maria?

 

Benjamin started flipping through one of his dull-colored books. A wind blew through the tunnel, so he struggled with the pages until he finally pinned down the one he was looking for.

 

“Wall Maria. The outermost wall - here.” He put the book down in front of him, where he had turned to a page that featured a fold out map. He spread the larger paper out. On the map, you saw three circles, each with four U-shaped sections branching off of them. You saw the biggest circle had been labeled “Wall Maria”.

 

Nodding, you grunted for him to elaborate.

 

Benjamin pointed at the wall on the map. “Wall Maria is the biggest one, closest to the outer world, but poorer people live there. It get’s more expensive the farther inside you get. Same thing with living in the south or the north. Titans are waaaaaaay more common down south, so richer people live up in the north since you,” You gave him a look.

 

“Ahem, I mean, since _titans_ are less of a problem up here.”

 

He then showed you which direction was North, South, East, and West on the map. “We’re here.” He pointed to the northernmost part of Wall Maria, to the U-shaped section that branched off the top. “We’re as far north as you can go, that’s why it’s always snowy here. I’ve always wanted to see a garden, one without snow.”

 

You took a few moments to look at the map. These walls… if the wall Benjamin was sitting in right now was simply a small branch-off of the big circle, then these walls were much bigger than you originally thought. And there was more than one wall!

 

You felt a few things click in your mind from the newly-gained information. Titans just appeared one day, and they attacked humans, so the humans built walls, the walls sustained for 100 years, until 5 years ago. What did he say happened 5 years ago? Some titans broke in?

 

You grunted to get Benjamin’s attention, he looked up from the map. You moved your big fingertip over the map, and tried to imitate ‘breaking in’ by making a, “Bbbbsshhhhhh” sound when your finger went over the U-area that Benjamin said you two were currently in.

 

Benjamin took a few seconds to realize what you were asking, and laughed a little. “Oh no, no, no, no, the Colossal and the Armored broke into the Shiganshina District. Way over here.”

 

Benjamin pointed to the U-shaped section the farthest south, directly opposite of the one you and Benjamin were in. You looked at the size of the walls on the map, then at the wall you were currently leaning on.

 

Wow. Shiganshina was a long ways away.

 

You also mulled over the fact that only two titans had been able to break through the walls when they had held up for 100 years, and you had technically been the third titan to break through a wall. What did that make you? Good or bad?

 

“-the Survey Corps fights titans though! And I think they’re about to graduate soon! I mean, it _is_ the end of the school year for me, so it must be the same for them!” Benjamin was saying. This caught your attention.

 

Benjamin passionately explained what the Survey Corps was, and how they fought titans by targeting their only weak point: the nape of the neck. You rubbed that area self-consciously.

 

“Oh!” Benjamin was peering up at the sun. “I’m gonna be late! Sorry, (Y/N), see you tomorrow!”

 

With that, he grabbed his school books and scaled down the tree, out of view until the next day.

 

This gave you some time to think over everything you had just taken in, as you listened to his boots stomp away.

 

You turned and slunk down until you were sitting with your back against the wall. Wind pushed a dusty layer of snow over the banks on the ground. Pine tree branches rustled and more snow fell from them. The sky had begun to get painted in color again, as the sun’s light sunk lower and lower.

 

Titans were bad.

 

They ate people, almost killed an entire species, broke through the remaining protection that that species had, and now you had done the same.

 

You were bad. You were a titan. Titans weren’t good. Titans were bad.

 

You were bad.

 

But this wasn’t right!

 

You didn’t eat humans, the thought had never even occurred to you! And you only broke the wall out of curiosity, not as a form of attack! You fought titans, your own kind!

 

You fought the bad… so that made you good. Good! You _were_ good!

 

You felt your frown slowly curve up as you continued to internally justify yourself, staring at the watery snow at your feet.

 

Maybe you could help the humans, maybe you could show them that you were good, and not like the rest of your kind.

 

Maybe they’d like you, be your friends even!

 

You’d have to fight titans to show them that. Titans were down south, near Shiganshina, far, far away. You’d go to Shiganshina!

 

You felt your eyes begin to droop, and you looked up from the slush at your feet to see the sun was almost completely hidden behind the trees. The sky had gotten darker, and you felt your energy depleting once again.

 

Tomorrow, you’ll go to Shiganshina...


	4. Make It To Trost

Columns of steam rose up from your feet with every step you took in the snow. You’d been walking for a while - now would be a great time to use that new word you learned; you’d been walking for a few  _ hours _ \- and the scenery hadn’t changed much since you left Benjamin’s spot in the wall.

 

There were still deep piles of snow as far as you could see; the wind still blew dust sheets over the ground. You’d stuck close to the wall, skirting alongside it so as to not get lost. In truth, you had no idea if you were actually heading in the right direction, but Benjamin had pointed you this way and you trusted him. 

 

Everything looked the same no matter where you turned, and the wall just went on forever.

 

Looking up from the snowy blanket of ground, you saw it was around midday, for the sun was in the center of the sky. Benjamin had taught you that. 

 

You sighed, remembering the escapade that went down in order for Benjamin to let you go. He hadn’t been too happy when you told him that you wanted to travel to Shiganshina. It had been a blur of angry, heart-broken tears from a 9-year-old boy. You were only able to get away once you promised you’d come back to him.

 

You shook your head to clear your thoughts of Benjamin. Positivity was key right now!

 

You decided to stop walking and take a small break. It wasn’t that your feet hurt, you were just getting restless and needed something to distract you. 

 

Looking around reminded you that nothing in your surroundings had changed. There were still snow-covered pine trees that towered over you, and there was still powdery snow below you that melted at your touch. 

 

You were the only sign of life for miles around. Unless, of course, there were more of Benjamin’s kind on the other side of this wall, like he said there were.

 

You were bored, but what was there to do? 

 

The temperature had only gotten slightly warmer since you left Benjamin, and it was definitely not enough to capture your attention.

 

Having deemed nothing around you to be entertaining, you sighed, exasperated, and continued walking.

 

❄❈❄❆❄❊❄❋❄❉❄❅❄

 

Now things started getting interesting. 

 

You remembered from Benjamin’s map, that there were four U-shaped protrusions from the outer wall.  _ Districts _ , as Benjamin had called it. 

 

You knew you had originally started at the northernmost one, then headed off to the east side. You’d seen nothing but snow and wall for hours, but now, the wall made a sharp turn out to the side. You were at the outer east district of Wall Maria.

 

You were halfway there.

 

Turning so that you could walk alongside the wall of the eastern district, you felt your boredom slowly get replaced with refueled motivation that you were close to Shiganshina. You were close to other people like Benjamin, who would be your friends!

 

Grinning, you began to jog a little. Your feet made the ground shake every time they hit it.

 

The snow down here, halfway to Shiganshina, was more scarce, and the trees had little to no white on them. The last clumps of snow fell off the trees when you sped by.

 

As you ran, you noticed some of the trees looked different. 

 

Instead of coming to a point at the top, a few of them spread out, branches reaching towards every direction. They were a lighter shade of green than your usual dark pine, and were unlike any trees you’d ever seen before.

 

You turned away from the slowly curving wall, and ran over to one of those strange trees to inspect it curiously. Nearing a tree while slowing down, you could clarify that just from it’s looks, it definitely was  _ not _ a pine. 

 

You leaned close to the bark and smelled it.  _ Definitely not pine _ . 

 

The tree still towered over you like the pine trees from your snowy home, but it shared no other similarity. The bark was lighter, smoother, and what were those little spots crawling around on the trunk? 

 

You leaned in as close as you could without putting your face on the wood, but still couldn’t see the little moving dots any clearer. 

 

Giving up on the mysterious living spots, you looked up into the spiderweb of branches. These tree limbs looked thicker than pine branches, and more… squiggly. Uncoordinated. 

 

You looked at the green things that appeared to be growing off of the disorganized tree limbs. They were a lighter shade of green than pine, and didn’t resemble needles in the slightest. They looked like light green palms.  _ Leaves _ .

 

You stretched an arm up to try and grab at one or some of them. One leaf was about the size of your fingerpad, so you gently pinched one, then plucked it from it’s perch in the tree.

 

Bringing your pinched fingers to your face, you took a closer look at the leaf. You got to look at it for a grand total of five seconds before you exhaled through your nose and the leaf was sent flying away. You huffed in annoyance.

 

You scooted through a couple more leaves, and compared some green palms to pine needles, since both trees seemed to coexist in the same area.

 

Weaving in between the trees, you found yourself at the center of the curved district wall by the time the sun had started to set. 

 

Well, that was great use of time. 

 

You allowed yourself a pat on the back, having made it halfway in one day before getting distracted.

 

As baby blue slowly started fading into bright pink and orange, you found yourself a spot close to the cold stone wall, and laid down with your back pressed against it, shivering at the chill it sent down your spine.

 

You glanced up from your spot on the ground. You still couldn’t even see where the wall ended. 

 

As the sun sunk lower and lower behind the tree tops, your energy seeped out of you. Sighing contently, you fell asleep once again.

 

❄❈❄❆❄❊❄❋❄❉❄❅❄

 

This. Was. Incredible.

 

All your life, you thought the only thing that existed underneath snow was hard, cold, brown. But that was apparently not true, because here you were, standing in soft, green…  _ stuff _ !

 

You rolled down a hill, arms crossed over your chest, laughing as the world spun around your vision. 

 

Snow had gotten less and less as you walked, and now it was practically all gone! What kind of odd paradise was this? 

 

The lack of snow had given more room for patches of the green…  _ grass _ to grow. Some of it wasn’t even green, instead yellow and crunchy, but it was still so interesting!

 

You reached the bottom of the hill, and laid there for a few seconds, still giggling. You saw a pond through your upside-down view in the distance, and quickly sat up to rush over and crouch by it’s edge.

 

Not a single piece of ice to be seen!

 

You looked at your distorted reflection in the water, and saw pieces of that green and yellow grass stuck in your hair. You laughed, and shook your head over the pond. Strands of the plant things fell out of your hair and onto the crystal waters, causing ripples to rush over the surface. 

 

You giggled as the image of yourself became even more warped in the rippling water. 

 

Looking up and around again, you couldn’t keep off the grin that split wide across your face. The temperature was noticeably warmer, and even though cool winds would blow by, the rays of the sun always came right back.

 

You stood up from your crouched position by the pond, and looked back at the wall. You’d deviated from the path a little during your hill-roll, but you could still see the wall just a few running paces away. Crystal clear.

 

Except, now you noticed that there appeared to be another branching point wall like from yesterday.

 

Could… could that be the Shiganshina district?

 

You began walking towards the district wall, and the opening slowly came into view. This was the entrance to Shiganshina, your pathway to humans was right in front of you!

 

Suddenly,  you heard sickening, gurgling growls coming from near the wall. Startled, you quickly jumped behind a tree. 

 

Now you felt it. The ground shook as many, different sizes of feet stomped down over and over again. 

 

You peeked around the tree, and held your breath when you saw several others of your kind - other titans - walking towards the district wall.

 

They walked as though they had no purpose. Dead. Mindlessly driven to just  _ do _ . It was so much different from your own lively pace.

 

Like the few titans you had seen during your time growing up, some of them had disproportionate, grotesque bodies and faces. Size ranged from miniscule 4 meters, all the way up to your own towering 15 meters. 

 

Every single one of those terrifying creatures had absolutely no life in their eyes. Just blank, glassy, emotionless stares.

 

You looked farther, and noticed that the opening of the wall looked like it had been bashed in ages ago. Wind ran through the huge arch.

 

_ “The Colossal Titan broke through the Shiganshina District 5 years ago,” _ You remembered Benjamin telling you.  _ “Then the Armored Titan came in and broke through Wall Maria. Everyone was forced to move into wall Rose.” _

 

If this was the first opening, the one the Colossal Titan made, then there would only be other people farther inside. You had to get past the swarm of other titans and into the other side of the wall. 

 

You took a long breath in preparation, gave yourself a mini pep talk, had several false starts, then bolted out from behind the tree. 

 

You came up behind some titans and ran around them, giving them a few seconds to realize what was going on. Most of them kept going on like nothing was happening, but a few took notice to you. 

 

They could tell you weren’t like them.

 

Fear kept you running towards the wide open entrance in the wall, hoping you’d get inside before any of the titans behind you attacked. Just focus on running, focus on runni-

 

“RRRrrrrrraaaawwwwwwwrrrrr!” You turned your head in time to see a skinny, gangly-limbed titan jumping at you with jaws wide open. It was probably a 10 meter class.

 

You cried out as it tackled you down, vicious, animal-like teeth ripping into your shoulder. Your head hit the ground with a hard _ CRACK _ , shocking you. Pain like you had never felt before shot through your system, hot, wet, and dizzying. 

 

You found yourself unable to move for a few moments after the initial shock and scare, as the titan continued to tear apart your shoulder, digging in hungrily.

 

But then something rushed through you, giving you strength to finally kick the titan off. It went rolling, and you quickly stumbled up to continue running before other titans could catch up. Steam rose rapidly from your shoulder, and your eyes stung from the pain since you were unaccustomed to such a thing, but you kept pushing forward.

 

You could hear the same titan from before rumbling after you. You urged your feet to move faster, as the wall came closer. The wall was almost there, almost there… 

 

Within seconds, the arch of the brick went over your head, casting you into shadow for a few fleeting moments, then you were back in sunlight again. 

 

You had made it into Shiganshina district.

 

Instantly, you saw the ruins of homes and buildings and rubble go past you as you kept running through the district. Huge rocks lay over crushed heaps of glass and wood. Cracked red shingles barely hung on to caved-in roofs.

 

Through the alleys of some still-standing buildings, you could see what appeared to be a man-made water canal running parallel to you. 

 

Did titans really cause this much destruction 5 years ago?

 

You saw titan heads over the buildings, some smaller ones crawling around on roofs and towers. The city was infested with them. Ducking to weave in between alleyways, you hoped you’d be able to make it through the city before another titan attacked you. 

 

Your shoulder was still letting off foul-smelling steam, having only healed the muscle but not the skin.

 

Red was splattered on almost every surface you came across. Remnants of what the once thriving area must’ve been like were hidden under heaps of debris. Rats and small critters scurried in between the streets, looking to scour on small crumbs of bread and long-rotten vegetables. 

 

You ran back onto the wide main street, and saw the next passageway for you. 

 

Wall Maria.

 

It, too, had a giant archway bashed through it. This was the one the Armored Titan had barreled through. You were getting closer and closer to the humans. 

 

A small titan came limping out from behind a corner, and instantly targeted you with it’s small, beady eyes. Easily a 4 meter, reaching towards you with meaty, grabby hands.

 

With a grunt, you punted it out of the way, and it squealed as it went. You winced as you heard it smash into the bricks, then you picked up on the gurgles and growls of other titans taking notice and coming after you. 

 

Just a little closer to the Wall, just a littler closer and you’ll be- 

 

A hand suddenly lurched out for your face, and ducked instantly on instinct, then slid on your knees underneath the archway of Wall Maria. Shadow went over you again.

 

The titan followed you inside, so you got back on your feet and kept running, not risking a glance back towards the wall. You’d had enough of your own kind for a long time.

 

The shadow gave way so you were once again in the sunlight. You were now inside Wall Maria.

 

_ “Everyone was evacuated behind Wall Rose, since now Wall Maria’s taken over by titans.” _ You recalled Benjamin’s words. 

 

The people were further in, behind Wall Rose. You’d keep running until you get there. 

 

Or, at least until you lose the titan behind you, since if your memory of the map is correct, Wall Maria is huge, and would take a long time to run across. 

 

Rather quickly after that, you lost the titan, and finally slowed down to a well-deserved leisurely walk. 

 

The inside of Wall Maria was huge. You couldn’t see the next wall at all, not even a sliver of a line in the distance. 

 

Since it was bigger, settlements were more spread out, giving more room for small clumps of trees and that man-made water canal that seemed to run straight to the center of all the walls. 

 

Most of the buildings you happened to come apon were still intact, or at least in much better shape than the chaos inside Shiganshina.

 

One thing they both shared in common? Both were devastatingly deserted. Empty. Barren.

 

Walking through this quiet on the soft green grass, once again being the only living soul for miles around, you felt exactly the way you did on your travel down here. You were still alone.

 

The sun’s light got blocked out, as dark clouds rolled in and covered the land in shade. As you walked solemnly, you only took small notice in the fact that the dark clouds were letting down drops of water, rather than the snow you had been expecting.

 

You held your palm up to your face to inspect rivets of water running down your skin. You felt drops fall off of your elbow, nose, and pin your hair to your head. 

 

It was interesting, water falling from the sky rather than white specks of snow, but you had little energy to gawk over it. All your vigor had been worn out from the running, finally healed shoulder, devastation of being around titans, devastation of  _ being _ one of those titans, and that fact that you were once again, alone.

 

You didn’t want to be left to your fascinations alone anymore. You wanted to show someone, to have them appreciate it with you. 

 

You stopped walking and looked up again through the falling streaks of…  _ rain _ .

 

There  _ were _ people just a few miles ahead, right? That’s what Benjamin had said. 

 

You had to sit down for a moment. Finding a large tree, one of the ones that branched out towards the sky, you sat down and leaned your back against it’s trunk. 

 

Having grown up isolated from everything, you’d never felt loneliness. How could you, if you’d never known what it was like to  _ not _ be alone?

 

But then you’d met Benjamin. He’d become your friend. You hadn’t been alone for the first time in your life. 

 

However, in your search to find  _ more _ people to chase away your feeling of isolation, you’d only ended up back at square one.

 

_ No! _ None of this!

 

You shook your head, sending a spray of water off from your hair. No negative thoughts, only positive. There  _ were _ other people out there, other people like Benjamin, and they were all just behind Wall Rose. 

 

You just had to be patient and get there. Stay positive.

 

You looked up at the grey clouds, but quickly averted your head back down when droplets of water fell into your eyes. That’s when you saw that brown stuff again.  _ Dirt _ , wasn’t it?

 

But you’d known dirt to be hard and cold, this dirt was… wet and slippery.  _ Mud _ .

 

You placed both your hands in the messy puddle by your feet, and swirled them around in the slop. It was still cold, but way more entertaining. 

 

You pulled your hands up to your face, and laughed lightly when you saw they were now covered in the brown. 

 

Getting onto your knees in the puddle, you molded the mud into piles, then squished them with a stomp of your foot. You giggled at the  _ squelch _ sound it made. 

 

You rolled around on the ground, getting covered in mud as the rain continued to fall around you. 

 

You got a stick, and drew random lines and patterns through the mud.

 

You gave the muddy stick a curious lick, then sputtered and spit in disgust for a few solid minutes.

 

By the time you had finally tired yourself out, you were covered from head to toe in mud. Bringing your hand up to your face again, you watched as the still-strong rain washed little bits of grime down your arm. 

 

You held your arms up and closed your eyes. As the rain took it’s sweet time to wash all the evidence of your play time away, you breathed in the crisp, coppery clean smell of the rainwater.

 

You were almost at Wall Maria. What did Benjamin say the next district was? Trost district?

 

All you needed was a little patience, and you’d be in Trost and with the humans in no time. Just like you were standing now, waiting with your eyes closed while the rain cleaned you off in slow, thin streaks of water.

  
All it would take is a little patience.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That house you ran by in Shiganshina that was crushed flat was, in fact, Eren's house. >:D
> 
> Please leave comments about which lines or parts of the story you particularly liked! They make my heart sing~
> 
> (And please give feedback or point out any typos if you see them. I'm still a newbie fanfiction writer)


	5. Battle Of Trost

Nevermind patience.

 

After a few minutes of standing in the rain and waiting for it to clean the mud off, you got fidgety and searched for a river or lake to quickly clean yourself. You walked through the rain, then came across a body of water encircled by trees. Water droplets padded against tree leaves, and made hundreds of little hoops on the lake’s surface.

 

You cupped the cold, dark water in your hands and splashed it against your skin, effectively washing large portions of dirt and grime off, more than the rain had done. Stem rose up from your heated body every time another wave of cool water hit it.

 

The mud trickled down your calves and forearms in brown clumps. You kept dousing yourself in the cold water, until finally, you reached into the lake again, and washed off your hands. You were completely clean.

 

With a grunt, you heaved yourself to stand again. The grey storm clouds didn’t show any sign of letting up, so you left the circle of trees and continued walking North, in the direction of Wall Rose.

 

You knew it would take a while to get to, since the wall only now looked like a sliver of a line on the horizon. You wondered what Benjamin was doing now, if he missed you, how his school was going, and if he still went to your spot in the wall.

 

You started jogging through the rain, stomping through every mud puddle you saw, and getting your legs dirty once again.

 

❄❈❄❆❄❊❄❋❄❉❄❅❄

 

"Good work, Ackerman." Ian complimented, as rain fell down onto the steaming carcass of the slain titan. "I'm impressed."

 

He and Mikasa stood on the building just above the giant's body. "I did what I could here, sir." Mikasa replied scornfully. "But thank you. I need to be a bit more careful in the future. I inadvertently dulled both of the blades," She clicked her sword handles, releasing the blades onto the roof with a clatter. 

 

"I'll do better next time."

 

Ian looked up from the hilt-less swords on the roof shingles to the soldier standing beside him. "What on Earth have you had to live through to be this nonchalant?" He immediately looked away again, thinking he'd overstepped a boundary. 

 

"I'm sorry, that was uncalled for."

 

Mikasa didn't respond, but looked off in turn, and lifted her red scarf over her mouth and nose. Her eyes glazed over as a blonde titan came lumbering around a tower. 

 

She ran over the rooftop towards the giant, while it strangely paid no attention to her. Another abnormal. Grappling hooks shot out from their sockets in her 3DM gear, latching onto the flesh at the back of it's neck. Her gas tanks hissed as she flew forward off the building, rain pelting onto her skin like small pebbles.

 

With a grunt, Mikasa swung both blades over the expanse of skin, cutting a slice out with a rush of crimson blood. The beast crashed to the ground, as she landed on another roof. She stood up, and looked over at the decaying body of another, hairless and eyeless titan across the street from her.

 

 _'The world is a cruel place,'_  She thought.  _'If you want to live, you have to fight.'_

 

The tower bell rung loudly through the pouring rain and rotting stench of death. The metal ball clanged against the heavy bell walls over and over again. Looking over a few more buildings, the gate to Wall Rose lowered to seal it. All the residents of the Trost District had been evacuated behind Wall Rose, now only the soldiers were left in the city. 

 

Ian showed up, slightly out of breath, next to Mikasa. "That's it, we're done." He told her. "Scale the Wall."

 

"I should go help the Vanguard withdraw, sir." She countered. Ian reached out a hand to stop her. "Ackerman! Wait!" But Mikasa vaulted off the roof before he could say anything else. 

 

She flew over red rooftops, crumbling stone, and steaming titan bodies towards the Vanguard in the middle of Trost.  _'It's a cruel world. But I have a place in it.'_  

 

By the time Mikasa had made it to a large rooftop where many cadets sat stuck, the rain had let up, but the gloomy grey clouds remained. Even though the soldiers had been given orders to get over the Wall, no one on this roof was able to because of their low gas. The supply depot hadn't shown up to aid either.

 

The shingles clanked under Mikasa's feet as she ran across them. "Mikasa! Weren't you with the rear guard?" Connie asked, shocked. She ignored him, and ran straight towards a familiar head of blonde hair. "Annie!" Mikasa called. Said female turned her head upon hearing her name. 

 

"I know how bad things have gotten, it's selfish putting personal matters in the forefront," Mikasa rambled, coming to a stop in front of Annie. Reiner, Bertholt, and Marco, who were standing by Annie, leaned over to listen in. Mikasa continued. "But have you seen Eren's squad?"

 

"Some squads made it back, but I don't know about Eren's." Annie informed her, looking away. Reiner jabbed his thumb over his shoulder. "We found Armin, he's over there."

 

Mikasa looked in the indicated direction to see Armin sitting motionlessly below a window ledge, looking downcast. "Armin!" She called, only receiving a flinch from said blonde. She ran across the roof once again, but Armin never moved or looked up at her. 

 

Concerned, Mikasa knelt before her friend. "Armin, are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?" Armin gave a small jerk of his head, telling her that he was not hurt.

 

Mikasa stood up again, and surveyed the heads of cadets that stood solemnly on the large rooftop. "Where's Eren?" Armin let out a weak sob. Mikasa turned back towards him. "Armin?"

 

Finally, Armin abruptly looked up, and Mikasa gasped when she saw the wet tears trailing from his terrified, bloodshot eyes. 

 

The look in those eyes told her exactly where Eren was.

 

Armin looked down at the balled fists on his knees as more tears fell onto the red clay shingles. "They were..." He croaked out. "The cadets of squad 34... Thomas Wagner... Nac Tias... Mylius Zeramuski... " Armin sobbed out the names of those he had witnessed perish. "Mina Carolina... Eren Jeager... "

 

Mikasa felt a cold rush run through her body. 

 

Armin continued through his tight throat, as more cadets on the roof turned to listen. "These brave five... upheld their duties... " Armin whimpered. "They died... valiantly... on the field of battle... "

 

Every cadet on the roof stood in silent shock. Sasha whispered, "Please no..." Armin continued to sob.

 

"His _whole_ squad was wiped out?" Someone asked in disbelief. Another voice muttered a shaken response, "The same will happen to us if we try to take on those... _titans_... " 

 

Armin kept his gaze lowered as tears continued to fall. "I'm so sorry, Mikasa... it should've been me that died, not Eren... I... I couldn't do a thing!" He cried. "I'm worthless... "

 

Mikasa knelt down once again, and put her hand on top of the blonde's. "Armin," She spoke softly. He looked up. "Calm yourself. We haven't got time for you to get emotional right now. On your feet." She took Armin's hand and pulled him up to stand. He gave a weak noise of protest, but made no move to shake her grasp. 

 

"Marco!" Mikasa called out, walking over to where said boy stood. "If we eliminate or bypass the titans at HQ, we can there refuel our gear, allowing us to get back over the Wall. Is that assessment correct?" 

 

"Well, yeah, I guess so, sure." Marco answered as Mikasa walked past him, towards the end of the roof. "But there's just too many of them out there, even with _you_  on point!" 

 

Mikasa turned at that. "I can do it."

 

" _What?_ " Marco breathed. 

 

"I'm strong. Real strong." Mikasa lifted her sword toward the sky. Now every cadet's attention had shifted to where she stood. "None of you come close. You hear me? I am a warrior! Know this: I have the power to slay all of the titans that block our path. Even if I have to do it alone."

 

Expressions of disbelief were shown across every soldier's face as she spoke. "As far as I'm concerned, I am surrounded by a bunch of unskilled, cowardly, worms!" Mikasa lowered her sword so that it pointed outwards at the cadets. "You disappoint me. You can just sit here and twiddle your thumbs and watch how it's done!" 

 

A brown-haired girl stepped forward. "Wait! Mikasa! Are you out of your mind? That's  _crazy_!" 

 

"You can't be serious!" A blonde boy cried. "Trying to take them out by  _yourself_?"

 

"There's no way you can hope to beat them!" 

 

Mikasa spared them only a glance. "If I can't beat them, I die." She turned towards the edge of the roof. "But, if I win, I live. And the only way to win, is to fight!"

 

She jumped off the roof, and flew off towards HQ without another word.

 

The scouts stood in silence for a few seconds, before Jean muttered, "You know, I was expecting something more motivational. Her way with words was kind of a let-down." He clenched his teeth and glared at his feet. "I blame everything about this on you, Eren." Jean whispered to himself.

 

"Hey!" Jean shouted, raising his sword up the way Mikasa had to get the other scout's attention. "Don't just stand there, we weren't taught to let our comrades fight alone! 'Less you  _are_  a coward, in which case, stay outta my way!" With that, he ran off after Mikasa, Connie following behind. 

 

Reiner scoffed. "Never expected that from him." Nevertheless, he and Annie headed off to follow Mikasa's lead. 

 

Armin wiped his eyes with his jacket sleeve, sniffing, and followed as more and more soldiers starting going after Mikasa. Marco sighed and held his face in his palm, then went along with the others. 

 

"Hey! Seriously!" Sasha turned to taunt the remaining scouts on the roof. "Come on, you bunch of chickens!" She jumped off the roof in suit.

 

The other cadets chuckled darkly to themselves. "They're nuts.", "Dammit...", "Alright, let's go!"

 

With a cry, all the soldiers lept after Sasha. 

 

❄❈❄❆❄❊❄❋❄❉❄❅❄

 

The rain had stopped a while ago, and the grey clouds only got lighter and lighter the more you walked. You could see the Wall in the distance now, but it was so far away, that if you held up two fingers, you'd be able to fit the entire thing in between them. 

 

Ah, well, you were getting closer. 

 

You were still walking through abandoned land by yourself, but you could see the telltale bodies of live titans moving towards the tiny Wall in the distance. That was strange... why were they moving towards the center of the wall and... wait. Were they going _in_? 

 

Could... could Wall Rose have been broken as well?

 

You were too far away to tell, and the idea seemed too far-fetched, so you shrugged off the thought and kept walking.

 

❄❈❄❆❄❊❄❋❄❉❄❅❄

 

Mikasa had run out of gas and fallen into an alley. She would've been eaten if not for the impossible happening: another titan coming out of no where and fighting it's own kind!

 

After the initial shock, Connie and Armin had shown up and pulled her onto a roof. Armin had replaced Mikasa's empty gas tanks with his almost empty tanks. They had been about to jump off the roof again, when Armin got a look at the new, berserk titan and got an idea to use it against the titans swarming HQ.

 

They baited it to the tower, where it punched two titans with their faces mashed through the building walls. While the titan wreaked havoc outside, Mikasa, Connie, and Armin landed inside. After explaining their bat-shit insane scenario to the others and a disbelieving Jean, who had led a squad of people to the tower before them, they'd rounded up all the remaining cadets and an elevator to the lower level. Armin devised a plan to slay 7 of the 4-meter class titans below them.

 

After the plan played out, with only a minor bump, the titans were slain, and everyone rushed to refill their tanks with gas. A new feeling of hope rushed through the cadets. They were going to make it! And all because of this crazy, new titan!

 

Most of the cadets rushed off to climb over Wall Rose, but a small group including Annie, Reiner, Bertholt, Marco, Jean, Mikasa, and Armin stayed. As they stood on top of HQ, they saw the crazy titan getting devoured by other titans. 

 

Cannibalism had never been seen before in titans. 

 

Armin recognized an oncoming titan as the one that ate Thomas Wagner, and the crazy titan rushed forward miraculously, loosing the titans on it's sides, and bite into the other titan's nape. The crazy titan swung the body around, using it to take out a few other titans, before it let it's jaw go slack, and finally, collapsed to the ground. 

 

Jean had been more than ready to leave the area, but the others stayed. They were all shocked to see that when they looked down at the steaming body of the fallen titan, that there was a steaming hole on the nape of the neck. From that hole, emerged none other than Eren Jeager. 

 

Mikasa had rushed down and wrapped her arm's around him, and felt her eyes water when she checked and there was a definite heartbeat. 

 

After dragging Eren's unconscious body up onto the tower, they finally let it sink in that Eren  _was_  the crazy, berserk titan.

 

❄❈❄❆❄❊❄❋❄❉❄❅❄

 

The sky had gotten brighter again, and the clouds had started to give way to the friendly blue sky once more. You'd gotten closer to the Trost District wall, and could now confirm with mild panic, that it had definitely been broken in. You'd dove into a small clutch of trees, and from those trees, you could see titans flooding into the district through the gate. 

 

 _'Not again!'_  You thought. Now how were you supposed to get in? Do the same thing you did at Shiganshina? You'd only end up trapped!

 

But... this is where the people were. Titans ate people, so they could be in trouble!

 

That settled it. For the second time that day, you'd have to face your own kind again, but this time you'd be saving more than just yourself.

 

You leaned your forehead against a tree trunk and sighed in exasperation.  _'Here goes nothing.'_

 

Leaping over the shrubbery and out of the clutch of trees, you were back in open day light and in sight of titans. You made a direct beeline for the breach in Wall Rose, but this time, you kept an eye out along your sides in case any titans tried to jump you like in Shiganshina. 

 

Out of your peripheral vision, you saw a 13 meter charging at you. It's tongue hung out of it's slack, over-sized mouth. Just as it came close enough to grab at you, you abruptly stopped running, causing the titan's swipe to miss. It growled and lunged at you again, but you were prepared. You dodged to the side, giving you access to it's backside, then clawed at the weak point: the nape. The titan fell to the ground, and you took off running again. 

 

Keeping in mind that their weak point was the same for you, you kept your ears open for any titans coming up behind you. 

 

Finally nearing the wall, you saw one lone titan go through the gate. You could hear a lot of yelling and shouting from the other side. What was going on?

 

Taking a look around you, most of the titans nearest to you were quite a distance away, and none of them were running, so you had some extra time. The sky had gotten slightly orange, and the sun was only glowing brighter as it neared the tree line. Sunset was starting.

 

You looked back at the titan inside the district, and slowly crept into the tunnel after it. It wasn't paying attention to you. In fact, it had stopped on top of a wooden...  _bridge_ , and was staring intently at something in front of it.

 

You felt the ground shake periodically, like footsteps. What was the titan so captivated by? Taking a few steps further into the wall, you leaned to the side to see around it. What so saw made you gasp.

 

A 15 meter titan like yourself, was walking towards the wall carrying a humongous boulder on it's shoulders. Each step it took shook the ground. Tangled brown hair fell in front of it's face, but couldn't block out the eerie green glow of it's eyes. 

 

So many questions went flying through your head, all of them spurred by your confusion and slight terror, but you had no time to think about them. As the 15 meter walked towards the wall, two  _humans_  ran towards the titan in front of you, as it crouched down.

 

Was it going to eat them? What were those humans doing? What were those long, shiny things they were holding? Did they even know what the titan was about to do? 

 

But then a voice out of your vision cried out, shocking you. "Out of the way!" To your bewilderment, another human came  _flying_  towards the titan from the side, and cut into the titan's eye with the shiny things. Red sprayed out from the area, and the titan let out a wounded cry. As if your nerves weren't shaking enough, one of the humans on the ground ran behind the titan, then two  _wires_  shot out from it and into the nape of the titan's neck. You watched as it let out a cry and slashed it's own two shiny things through the titan's weak point. The titan fell to the ground.

 

You stood in the tunnel, terror coursing through your veins, causing your hand gripping the side of the wall to cramp up. 

 

The humans knew about the weak point. They could fight on their own. They knew about  _your_  weak point. There was no need for you to fight if they could do it on their own. 

 

The titan carrying the boulder was still walking towards the wall, getting closer to where you were every passing second. _'What's it going to do with the boulder?'_  You asked yourself, but you already knew.

 

"There's another titan in there!", "Why isn't it moving?", "Not another abnormal!", "The goddamn thing has the nerve to look  _scared_!"

 

You had to move. You had to get out of the wall  _now_. But you only had two choices: go back outside with the titans and never see humans again, or go inside and risk getting slaughtered. Both choices would only mean you getting outnumbered by things that wanted to kill you. Neither option was better than the other.

 

"Should we kill it?", "It's going to get blocked by the boulder, so just leave it!"

 

Go back, and you could at least see Benjamin again. Go forwards, and you'll get trapped inside for ever.

 

"Eren's nearly there!", "This is it!", "Humanity's first victory!"

 

You moved on instinct, feet rushing forwards towards the inside of the district. Absolutely no thought went through your mind as you did so. Don't think, just  _do_. When you got to the other side of the wall, you abruptly turned to the side and ran away from the green-eyed titan. You heard the humans shouting behind you, and quickly lifted a hand to cover your nap, though you heard no movement or sounds coming behind you. 

 

You ran along the side of the wall, and seeing a building without humans on or near it, you ducked behind it. Leaning back heavily against the side of the building, you shakily took in breaths.

 

Your legs shook. Your fists clenched and unclenched.  _You were inside Trost District_.

 

You slid down the side of the building, until you were sitting up against it. Gulping down your terror, you risked a peek around the side of the structure just in time to see the 15 meter plunge the boulder into the gate with a deafening yell, sealing it completely. Wind and steam rushing from the area, surging down the alley you had just run into.

 

You turned away to avoid the gush of air into your eyes. Your limbs were still trembling, since you still hadn't had time to process everything you had seen in the past two minutes. The titan's cry rung in your ears, as the shouts of many humans errupted from various areas in the district. 

 

You heard another sound above all the rest, a smaller  _boom_ , and looked up over the top of the building to see a column of yellow smoke shooting up into the sky. 

 

The gate had been sealed. Trost District had blocked off all titans and was now safe.

 

But you were trapped in it.

 

❄❈❄❆❄❊❄❋❄❉❄❅❄

 

"Definitely yellow smoke, sir." An auburn-haired girl lowered the portable telescope from her eye. "Oh my God... the mission was a success!" She breathlessly cried in disbelief. 

 

Commander Dot Pixis stood beside her, but didn't tear is vision away from the distant but telltale yellow smoke. "Deploy all reinforcements." He instructed. "Bring the elite squad home!"


	6. Hange Will Now Study Thee

With the Trost District Wall now sealed, no more titans could get in... or out. 

 

"Mind the stragglers!" Rico Brzenska warned. Eren's titan form was crouched and leaning heavily against the base of the boulder, steam cascading off it's body. A few titans walking down the main street were coming towards him, mouths open and ready. "Ackerman, pull back!"

 

Mikasa shouted back at the white-haired woman, "With all due respect, I'm not pulling back until I recover Eren!" She ran towards the humongous, crouched body, where Armin was already struggling to pull said brunette from the nape of his titan. 

 

"Armin!" Mikasa yelled up at the blonde. "How is he?"

 

"Unconscious and scorching to the touch!" Armin's voice was strained, as he wrestled Eren's body away from the red flesh. A small tendon snapped away from Eren's arm. "There we go..." Armin muttered. "We have to get him up the wall!"

 

Mikasa and Rico used their 3DM to fly up to Armin, landing on the titan body's broad shoulders. Armin pulled harder, then cursed, "Dammit! He's fused to the carcass; I can't... work him free!"

 

"Then we cut." Rico stated, as Mikasa gasped in alarm. "Wait! We don't know what that might do!" She protested, but Rico went ahead and slashed through the thick, red tendons of muscle, freeing Eren. Armin let out a cry as he fell back holding the unconscious brunette, landing behind his decaying titan's foot. 

 

Armin let out a few coughs, as a shadow loomed over him. He turned in fear to see two titans towering above, looking hungrily down at the four humans and steaming titan carcass.

 

"Eren! Armin!" Mikasa cried out. As one of the titans lifted it's hand to grab for a meal, Eren's eyes slowly began to open.

 

Suddenly, a caped figure flew in out of nowhere on 3DM, and quickly spun through the air to slay the two titans in a matter of seconds. They crashed to the ground, as the figure landed on one of them. 

 

"Mikasa..." Armin whispered, as said female landed next to him and Eren. Mikasa asked, "Who's that?"

 

Eren weakly looked up, and was able to summon enough brain power to recognize the blue and white symbol on the back of the figure's dark green cape: the Wings of Freedom. 

 

The figure turned around, revealing himself to have a raven undercut and stern eyes. "Pay attention, kiddos." He demanded curtly, "This is the part where you explain to me  _exactly_  what it is I'm looking at." Indicating the remaining skeleton of Eren's titan, which Rico was still standing on top of.

 

❄❈❄❆❄❊❄❋❄❉❄❅❄

 

You hadn't moved from the building you had hidden behind. You were terrified, confused, and losing energy with every passing second the sun sank lower. 

 

Both your hands were clasped tightly around the back of your neck in paranoia, as your head hung between your knees. 

 

This is how you die. Trapped inside a place with humans and titans that all wanted to kill you. You should've stayed with Benjamin. He never wanted to kill you.  _Why hadn't you stayed with Benjamin?_

 

Your ribs shakily expanded and contracted as you breathed heavily through clenched teeth. Hot, scared tears slid down your checks and splashed onto the dusty cobblestone at your feet. You felt something dripping from your nose but you didn't have it in you to care. 

 

No more titans were coming in, so you knew they must be killing off the ones that got trapped inside. Ones like you.  _You were going to be killed by the humans you had come all this way to see._

 

You were getting more and more tired with every passing second, and there was no way you'd be able to defend yourself in your sleep. There was no way out.

 

A shrill voice suddenly pierced through your panicked haze. "Heeeyyyy big boy!" Your head snapped up in shock, to see four humans standing on the roof across from you. A large blonde one, a worried-looking brunette, a short black-haired one, and a reddish-brown haired one waving eagerly at you. That must've been the one who shouted at you. 

 

You huddled further into a ball, miserably thinking,  _'They're here to kill me!'_  As more terrified tears fell. 

 

"Oh, no!" The human cried again. "Don't cry! I'm not going to hurt you!" Wires shot out from the human, and it flew down to the ground as the other three humans shouted in protest. "Hange, please, no!", "Get your ass back up here, shitty glasses!", "That thing'll kill you!", but they made no move to follow, staying put on the roof with their shiny things drawn.

 

'Hange' began walked towards you, but you flinched away and drew your knees closer to you with a whimper. The human stopped walking at that, and you rapidly blinked away blurry vision to focus on the 'Hange'. 

 

"Don't be scared, big guy! I  _said_  I wasn't gonna hurt you!" The 'Hange' yelled up at you. You had no reason to trust it, so you didn't move, but kept your eyes focused cautiously on the human. And even if 'Hange' wasn't going to hurt you, what where the other three on the roof there for?

 

"Come on now, be cooperative! You're not gonna hurt  _me_ , now are you?" Hange asked, waving their arms to indicate themself. You eventually slowly shook your head 'no', as the three humans on the roof let out little murmurs and the 'Hange' gasped loudly. 

 

"You can  _communicate_!?" Hange exclaimed. " _Hahahaha_! This is absolutely  _amazing_! A 15 meter abnormal like you - there's so much to  _learn_!! See, Moblit? See, Levi? Erwin, come _on_!"

 

You glanced up uncomfortably at the three humans on the roof across from you, who tensed under your gaze. The blonde one cleared it's throat. "Titan!" It boomed. "Can you understand us?"

 

You nodded and 'Hange' squealed in delight.

 

The blonde human continued talking. "Do you have any intention of hurting us, or other humans?"

 

You shook your head this time. 'Hange' turned around and shouted up at her human companions. "Come on! You  _have_  to let me take this one in!  Oh please, please, please,  _pleeeeaaaaaase_!"

 

"How the hell do you think we're supposed to take this thing in  _alive_?" The raven one countered. "It's intelligent, but that doesn't mean we should trust it!", "Then we'll restrain it!", " _SILENCE!"_  The blonde one cut off their argument.

 

He sheathed his swords and flew down on his own set of wires and risked standing at your feet. "Can we trust you?"

 

 _'Trust me with what?'_  You thought, but nodded regardless. 

 

"Will you be cooperative?" The blonde shouted up at you.  _'Cooperative, how? What were they planning to do with you?'_

 

The human, sensing your uncertainty, elaborated. "Hange wishes to take custody of and study you to gain a better knowledge of your kind." He stated firmly. "Do we need to restrain you, or will you behave yourself?"

 

This wasn't _right_. You didn't have the option of leaving, only being made a prisoner. The only say you got in the matter was how nicely they'd treat you. You didn't want this, you wanted  _out_!

 

But you were trapped, and defenseless, while they held the power to _kill_ you at any moment; all they had to get past were your two hands. You had no choice but to cooperate. 

 

The blonde asked again, "Do we need to restrain you?" You shook your head.

 

"You'll cooperate?" A nod.

 

The blonde paused, gazing up at you with calculating blue eyes, then spoke again. "Very well. Follow Hange to the castle."

 

"But," The black-haired one spoke again, glaring harshly at you. "Know that any out of line move you make, I will  _personally_  cut you down." That didn't make you feel any better about your situation. "So behave yourself, titan, or else!"

 

"Oh!" Hange scoffed. "Don't be bothered by him! Follow me!" Hange flew onto the building you were leaning against, so you removed one hand from your neck to push yourself up. Standing on achy limbs, you began shuffling after the four humans as they flew with you. Hange and the blonde one in front of you, the brunette and raven behind you. 

 

You lumbered after them, catching the attention of several humans going by who stopping to gawk at your small procession. Eventually, you were lead out of the city, back into Wall Maria, and through a forest. You spotted what you assumed to be the castle before any of the humans did.

 

Concentrating on breathing to keep yourself calm, you worried about what you had gotten yourself into. Hopefully you'd get there safely before nightfall took over.

 

❄❈❄❆❄❊❄❋❄❉❄❅❄

 

Afterward, thanks to the coordinated efforts of the Scout Regiment and the Garrison Regiment's core of engineers, Wall Rose once again stood as a bull work against the titan hoards.

 

It was a full day's work dispatching the titans who remained corralled within Trost's perimeter. During which, the wall-mounted cannons fired ceaselessly. Most of the titans nearest the wall were wiped out by explosive shells. The few that remained, once the smoke cleared, were summarily cut down by the Scout Regiment.

 

During the so-called "Clean Up" Operation, a 15 meter abnormal titan was captured alive without restraint or protest. It, and cadet Eren Jaeger will from now on, be under Scout Regiment custody to be studied, and possibly used in further combat.

 

However, all told, 207 people were either dead or missing. 897 were counted among the injured. So, while the reclamation of Trost represented the first, true victory for humanity in it's fight against the titans, too many soldiers had fallen for celebration to be an order.

 

❄❈❄❆❄❊❄❋❄❉❄❅❄

 

You'd made it to the castle with the four humans, and they'd immediately corralled you into a dusty court yard while they talked (more like argued harshly) with a decent sized crowd of other humans who had rushed out of the castle upon seeing a 15 meter meandering towards the building.

 

You assumed they were explaining what they were doing leading you here, and why you weren't attacking, nor in any need to be tied down.

 

Hange situated you to lie down in the dead grass as the sky began to grow dark, and your mind started to get hazy. "Get lots of rest, beautiful!" They commanded. "We've got a lot of experimenting tomorrow!"

 

Then you were out like a baby.

 

❄❈❄❆❄❊❄❋❄❉❄❅❄

 

After being woken up by Hange poking you in the cheek with the butt of a long wooden spear, you noticed dark green tarps had been set up around you in your sleep, like that would do anything. Humans were meandering stiffly along side of them, casting you cautionary glances. A 15 meter titan without any sort of restraints? Had Hange finally gone off the edge?

 

You grumbled, causing a couple of the humans to jump, and sat up to kneel in the dirt of the court yard. You received wary looks from every set of eyes around you, well, except for Hange who was currently bouncing around and waving their arms below you to gain your attention. The mousy-looking brunette from before was nervously standing a few paces away from them.

 

"Let's get started! I have so much to learn from you! How about we start with a formal greeting, hm? You wouldn't happen to have a name, would you? It would be a good thing to have, since you won't be going anywhere for a long time!" They shrieked up at you. You nodded to tell them you had a name. Benjamin had given it to you.

 

"You have a name? Oh! Well, what it is, big guy?" 

 

You opened your mouth, which caused several humans around you to jump, and struggled to stutter out your name. "Y-y.... y- ahhh... y/n... y/n!" 

 

"(Y/N)?" They repeated. You nodded with a smile, proud of your first word. _'If only Benjamin could see me now. He'd be so proud!'_ Hange clapped their hands in delight, and the bristled humans around you gawked in awe.

 

"Did... did that titan just  _talk_?"

"It can communicate?"

"It's intelligent!"

"It titan has a name?"

"Titans know what names are?"

 

A whole slew of questions, most underestimating your intelligence and somewhat offending you, flew about the humans. Looking around at all of them, you saw the same blonde and raven from before observing you quietly from the steps of the castle. A soldier came running out into the yard, panted for a few seconds, then hurriedly whispered something to the blonde and the raven. You watched curiously.

 

"Well," Hange dragged your attention back to them. "I think that's a wonderful name, (Y/N). Might I ask where you got it?"

 

Alright. Second word. You got this. "B-b-buh... Beh... Ben... Benj-Benj... aahh...", "Benjamin?" Hange guessed. Well, you at least got half of his name out. Mental pat on the back for you. You nodded in response to Hange.

 

"And is this Benjamin a friend of yours?" You nodded again. 

 

Many of the humans had taken to watching this exchange between you two, some looking a little light-headed. Hange put their hands on their hips, satisfied with having communication established. This titan, (Y/N), was intelligent enough to communicate. Hange wondered how much further their knowledge stretched. But before they could continue bombarding their titan with questions, Moblit scrambled over to them from Erwin and Levi and informed Hange that the kid from the 104th, Eren, the one that had supposedly turned titan during the battle, had been taken to court and was due for trial in a few hours.

 

Hange glanced up at the titan, who stared right back curiously, innocently. Eren was just as interesting a specimen as this giant, but Hange wondered if the 15 meter beast could stand to be left alone. Hange could see even Erwin and Levi were hesitant to leave as it was. 

 

Hange turned back to craning their neck up at the titan. "Yoohoo! (Y/N)!" You blinked back in response. "Erwin, Levi, and I have some obligations out of town, and we'll need you to behave and not go anywhere while we're gone. Can you do that?"

 

Giant eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "No, no, don't worry! We won't be long!"

 

You didn't care about how long they would take. You cared about whether or not they were going to kill you, befriend you, or let you go so you could run back to Benjamin and complain to him about how mean and scary the rest of his species is.

 

Hange had already moved toward Erwin and Levi, and waved and you from the stone steps. "I'll be back soon, big boy! Be good!"

 

And with that, they were gone, leaving you to groan, whine, and generally pester all the other humans around you for the next few hours. At first, all of them would flinch away if you so much as looked in their direction, but by the time lunch had settled in and many of them were curiously poking your skin, asking you questions of their own, and answering whatever you could communicate. 

 

This would be a long few hours.

 

❄❈❄❆❄❊❄❋❄❉❄❅❄

 

By the time Hange and the other humans came back, you had memorized the names of everything each soldier had eaten for lunch, bird-watched with several of them, and slapped your hands into the dirt to make dust clouds (which quickly got shut down).

 

You were lying on your back, staring up at the clouds as a breeze blew by when you heard steps clack against the stone before stopping by your head. You looked and saw an upside-down Hange, Erwin and Levi. Two out of the three were frowning.

 

"Hiya (Y/N)! Did you miss us? Or did you miss me more? I know you missed me more than these two!" Hange rattled off. You gave a grunt to ask where they had been.

 

"Oh, you  _did_  miss us! Well, nothing to worry, sweet pea! We were just in court, busting out a cadet with the ability to transform into a titan!" This caught your attention, and you sat up abruptly, startling the two men behind Hange.

 

"That's right, Eren can transform into a titan! Thankfully, he's in our hands now, just like you, so he'll be used for battle rather than slaughtered. Win-win, wouldn't you say?"

 

The raven scoffed behind Hange and went to lean against a stack of crates while the blonde looked you over just as he did yesterday. You returned his gaze nervously, then Hange got into your face again.

 

"Anyway, I've gathered a lot of data on your kind since last night! You fell asleep not five minutes after the sun went down. Five minutes! So I've concluded that the sun must be some sort of energy for your kind. You don't require food or water to survive! You have vocal organs but have absolutely no need to breathe, though you seem to be the odd one out on that fact, here. You did make an attempt to form words today, so I believe that with time, we can get far in the ways of communication! As far as I'm concerned the only thing your body uses to-"

 

Hange droned on as they gleefully circled around you, poking at your legs and arms and even your butt cheek, though you'd flinched away at that. 

 

"Anyway, I have many more tests to conduct, and there are many more hours in the day, so let's hop to it, beautiful!"

 

❄❈❄❆❄❊❄❋❄❉❄❅❄

 

By the time nightfall came once again, Hange had sat by the titan's side as it drifted off. Most of the soldiers who had been put on guard around (Y/N) were more at ease once the beast was out, though they were slowly warming up to the gentle giant.

 

Hange returned to the inside of the castle where they greeted Eren, and proceeded to trap him in their tellings of titan facts and stories. 

 

The poor kid looked like he was about to pass out by the time Hange had spilled into their fifth laughing fit, but he was trapped with the titan-loving scientist until they were done with him.

 

Hange had every intention of experimenting on Eren, (Y/N), and both of them together in the name of science and to unlock the secret of the titans. And hopefully with the new recruits coming in shortly, they would have even more helpers to assist in their findings.


End file.
